Our Past Hopes And Search For The Future
by Liza Taylor
Summary: She knew she had to be strong. She was the leader of the First Unit. She must not show any weakness, no pain, everyone was counting on her. However this facade can't be held forever... SomaXFemale Player Character. Post God Eater Burst storyline.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first long God Eater fic. ^-^ Really happy that I can write more SomaXFemale Player Character stuff(so sad that there isn't much for this pairing. ): ). Anyway, this story happens after the end of the game. Player character is based off the one I used while playing the game. So, enjoy! **

**EDIT: 7/22/16- dusts off cobwebs- It's been a while since I've been on this site! Well, I finally finished Resurrection so I wanted to update things so it matched more to what happens in game(such as the switch from calling the Player "leader" to "captain"). I've also retconned it a bit so a few scenes are different(with some parts removed). I also wrote a quick chapter that takes place after Resurrection(with the current chapter 4 being pushed to 5)  
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**I also have at least one more story arc planned out but it will take place after the events of Rage Burst so I need to wait for that game's release and then play through all of it before I can write it out. It's going to be a doozy and I can't wait to start writing it as I've had it planned out for a long time.  
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**Enough of me rambling away, enjoy the updates for all of the past readers and welcome all of the new ones! :)**

* * *

Aria stretched her arms over her head before running her fingers through her shoulder length black hair. Beside her, in the helicopter were Alisa and Sakuya. It had been a girls day out, God Eater style. Which meant fighting Aragami in the City of Mercy.

"I can't believe my first day back we end up having to fight three Vajras. I think Tsubaki assigned it to us on purpose," sighed Sakuya.

"Oh Tsubaki wouldn't do anything like that," protested Alisa. "She seemed to have a lot of fun at the wedding so she cannot be that angry with you."

"Might have gotten a bit too drunk though near the end," Aria pointed out.

Sakuya shook her head. "Don't remind me. I really thought she was going to wear the cake as a hat…"

Alisa and Aria shared a look. What many didn't know was that Aria had a picture of that scene. Alisa was the only other one with a copy. Tsubaki would kill them if she found out.

"But anyway, how was your honeymoon?" asked Alisa. "You two have fun?"

Aria grinned. "You guys did some naughty things right?"

"A….Aria!" protested Sakuya. "A girl should not talk like that!"

Aria shrugged and looked away with an innocent look on her face. "I have no idea what you mean."

Sakuya rolled her eyes. "You two are going to make the driver feel awkward."

Aria glanced over at the front of the helicopter. The guy was focused on driving the chopper but he would look back at the girls now and then. At least until he caught Aria staring at him.

"You guys went to the mainland right?" asked Alisa. "Hung out by the beach?"

Sakuya crossed her legs and nodded. Despite being a married woman she still wore the same outfit. Some things just never changed, no matter what. "Yes, it was nice. We couldn't go in the water though. The area was very, very light on the Aragami, only small species and they were more afraid of humans than anything else."

"Well it sucks then you two only got a week. Aren't honeymoons supposed to last a lot longer?" Alisa looked at Aria for confirmation but Aria just shrugged. It wasn't like she knew much about this kind of stuff either.

Sakuya lightly touched her armlet. "Yes, that would be nice but we both have a job to do here." She smiled at her fellow God Eaters. "Both of us did not want to leave you guys fighting without us."

Aria grinned. "You just missed us, right?"

Sakuya laughed. "Yes, that's it." She turned to Aria. "I need to thank you though, for writing that letter to let us have a week for a honeymoon. It's hard to get more than a couple days off in one sitting around here."

Aria shrugged. "It was no big deal. I'm just glad I could have helped out." After stopping the Devouring Apocalypse and getting Lindow back, she was on a good track record for the branch. There were more than happy than to listen to her request to let Sakuya and Lindow get a week long vacation. Well, it might also have something to do with how she wrote in that Lindow needed to recover in an area without many dangerous Aragami around. A little fibbing never hurt anyone right?

"Girls, we're here," the driver announced as the helicopter landed.

"Thanks!" called Aria as the girls stepped out.

They entered the den to see that Lindow had returned from training the new New-Types. Both Fredrico and Annette had happy smiles on their faces; obviously the training has gone well. Lindow's face lit up when he spotted Sakuya.

He met her halfway and embraced her in a tight hug and a peck on the lips. "So how was your first day back on the job?"

"Same old, same old," replied Sakuya with a laugh. She looked back at Aria. "Our fearless Captain made _sure_ it was the same as always."

"Hey now, when you say it like that, you make me sound like a demon," protested Aria.

"Well remember that time we fought that one Sariel?" Alisa pointed out.

"Or the time we fought that Sekhmet at the temple," added Sakuya.

"Or the time you fought the Corrosive Hannibal with me," put in Lindow.

"There was that time when you went on a mission with us and you got really intense while fighting a Quadriga? Remember that Fredrico?" spoke up Annette.

"You guys," protested Aria. She played with the ties of her dark brown hoodie. She never went into battle without it. At this moment she wanted to cover her face with the hood of it, a very Soma thing to do now that she was thinking about it.

"What're you guys talking about? I want in!" Kota's voice rang through the den as he walked in.

Right behind him was Soma along with Tatsumi and Kanon. Aria had "loaned" them out to the Second Unit to help out against a troublesome Chi You that had been poking around the Outer Ghetto.

"We were talking about how our Leader here can be a demon sometimes," said Lindow.

"Oh, you mean like the time she decided to bash that Aether's head in a wall a few time?"

"Really Kota? Really? You too?" Aria gave him an expression of pure betrayal. "I trusted you." She shook her head sadly. "I guess I won't be giving you the Bugarally figurine I found for your birthday."

"Whoa! Hold on a minute!" Kota yelled. "You don't have to do that really! You're a fine captain, not a demon at all on the battlefield. Uh…I'll give you my corn on the cob ration for a week?" He turned to Soma. "Help me out here!"

"You're on your own," Soma grumbled. "I'll be in my room if you need be."

Aria watched his back as he went to the elevator. Although she would never admit it to anyone, she was in love with Soma. She did not know when it happened exactly, she could not pinpoint an exact day, but ever since their first meeting she was intrigued by him. Sure, he had been off-putting at first, pushing everyone away but gradually Aria had broken through his shell. She saw his insecurities, she found out the secrets of his past. Back then she thought she had a chance, at least until Shio appeared.

Shio had changed everything. Aria knew from the way Soma looked at her, from the way Soma cared for the Aragami girl, she knew she didn't have a chance. She was the Captain of the First Unit at that point and she knew she could not be selfish with her emotions. The team was much more important than one individual. She "gave up" in a sense. Even now, with Shio gone, there was no way Aria was going to tell him how she felt. It would ruin their relationship, it would cause a rift in the team. Overall, there would be much worse consequences than if she was just any normal God Eater.

So even now she kept quiet. Watching from afar was fine. Being there when he wanted to have a small chat with her was fine. That was just fine for her.

"You guys will understand when you get someone you love," Sakuya's voice pulled Aria out of her thoughts.

The conversation seemed to have moved on without her.

"I can imagine. You two are just so cute together," said Alisa.

"I wonder which one of you lovebirds will end up hitched next." Lindow looked at every person in front of him in turn. A twinkle was in his eye, obviously he was trying to stir up some mischief.

"The next one will be me!" Tatsumi raced down the steps. "Hey Hibari, want to have dinner together tonight?"

"Oh ummm, I'll need to check my schedule," Hibari replied quickly.

"Oh Tatsumi," sighed Kanon.

"You need to give him credit for being tenacious," Aria pointed out.

Tatsumi returned with a downcast look on his face. "She's busy tonight, going out with other operators…"

"Don't worry, you'll get it someday," laughed Lindow.

* * *

A couple of days later Aria was in the Den waiting for Hibari to assign her to a mission. The attacks by the stronger Aragami had lessened recently so the First Unit hadn't been mobilized as much together. Most of the time it was just routine missions, fight a few Ogretails, clean up some Zygotes. A few had come in to fight Chi Yous and Kongous but not many.

"There doesn't seem to be much…" commented Hibari. "Oh, Tatsumi, Brendan and Kota are going to clean up some small Aragami that were found in the residential district, you okay with helping out with that?"

Aria nodded. "That's fine." Normally she would not have minded spending a day or two in the Den. As a Unit captain she loved having time to pour over the notes on various Aragami to figure out new battle strategies but that combined with Dr. Sakaki's random experiments to try to figure out how her resonance worked, it was nice to get out into the field again.

Hibari nodded. "They should be heading for the chopper now, I'll tell them you are on your way over."

"Thanks Hibari."

Aria made it to the chopper just before it was about to take off. "Well we haven't been on a mission together in a while," Kota said cheerfully.

"Yeah," agreed Aria. "It seems like the First Unit has been assimilated into the other Units," she laughed.

"Hey now, we appreciate you guys taking the time to help us out," spoke up Brendan.

"You can't always be fighting Arda Novas and Hannibals," laughed Tatsumi. His expression turned serious. "Alright, so the area we're entering is a residential area. Kota, Aria, I know you two don't usually fight in places such as this so I'm saying be careful in how you swing your sword and fire your guns. The people living there should have been evacuated but there might be a few stragglers around. Don't go destroying the houses if you can help it."

"Got it." Aria's brow furrowed like it always did when she was entering her tactician mode. "And it was just some Ogretails and some Zygotes right?"

"There was also some Cocoon Maidens spotted as well." Tatsumi handed the survey report to Aria. "They shouldn't be a problem as they are on the north end."

"The Ogretails and Zygotes seem to be congregating more in the south." Aria frowned. "That's the direction evacuated were sent right? I'm guessing they are smelling them."

"Thankfully it's only a bunch of low leveled ones. If it was a Kongou we should have been there hours before," said Brendan.

"So what's the plan?" asked Kota. "Go in there and shoot them up?"

"I think that's the gist of it," laughed Aria. She handed the notes back to Tatsumi. "I say it would be best to focus our attacks on the Ogretails and Zygotes first. Probably the Zygotes. They are quick little buggers and we don't want them to get past us. Ogretails are a bit slower so we have more time to take them out before they cause any trouble. One of us can go north and take care of the Cocoon Maidens so we aren't wasting any time…" She trailed off as she realized something. "Ack! Sorry Tatsumi. This is your gig."

Tatsumi laughed and gestured with his hand that it was fine. "You are our demon of the battlefield. I trust your decision. Plus I was thinking of something similar."

"I really wish everyone would stop using that nickname," Aria sighed.

"We're right overhead!" yelled the driver.

The four God Eaters got to their feet and picked up their God Arcs. Aria rested her Laoyang sword on her shoulder as the door was opened. A blast of wind pushed Aria back but she grabbed the handle by the door to avoid being blown backwards.

"I count five Ogretails and four Zygotes below."

"I'll head north and take care of the Cocoon Maidens," offered Bredan.

"There are probably more nearby so be careful," said Tatsumi.

"Don't any of you dare give up on living!" ordered Aria before she jumped out of the chopper. She positioned her sword in front of her, the blade transforming into a huge jaw. The Ogretail didn't see her coming as she landed on it, the jaw devouring the Ogretail's oracle cells.

The small fry were no match for her. Her blade tore through them like they were butter. And not the kind that the dining hall sometimes served.

Kota was behind her, firing his bullets at the Zygotes while Aria focused more on the Ogretails. She could sense Tatsumi next to her doing the same. Thankfully they were simple Aragami. She had no idea how to fight bigger ones without causing too much of a mess.

* * *

As fast as it had begun, it was over. Kota put down his gun after another quick survey of the site. Like always, the lower ranking Aragami were no match for members of the First Unit!

"That has to the record for the shortest mission ever," said Kota with a laugh. "Maybe I should start helping out the Second Unit more often."

"But then we won't get to fight Ouroboros together and what's the fun in that?" laughed Aria.

Kota stared at Aria in mock-horror.

"I'm going to go help Brendan out. It seems like there were more Cocoon Maidens there than what was estimated."

"You want us to come and help?" offered Aria.

"Let the Second Unit have some of the credit," laughed Tatsumi before he took off. "I've already radioed in that it is safe for the evacuated to come back. Maybe stay here and make sure everything is okay?"

"We can do that," said Aria.

Kota was impressed with how efficient the Defense Squad was. Sure he had helped them out now and then but that was usually missions outside of the Outer Ghetto. Kota made a note to buy the members of the Defense Squad drinks or something at a later date.

"Come on Kota, let's go see if everything's alright." Aria and Kota began walking up and down the streets. Already people were trickling back in and going about their daily business. Kota remembered doing the same thing when he wasn't a God Eater too. It was a rough time back then.

"I hope Mom and Nozomi don't have to deal with a situation like this ever again," said Kota. "After that one Aragami attack…" He shook his head as he thought of the many emotions that had torn through him when he heard E-26 had been attacked. He couldn't do anything about it either as he had his own missions to do and had to rely on the Defense Squads.

"Don't worry." Aria patted her friend's shoulder. "The Wall is stronger now. Those probably just got in before it was fixed and kept low…." She frowned as they reached the edge of the Ghetto and was met with the Anti-Aragami wall. "Wait a moment…" She looked around the area with the frown on her face.

"Hey Aria? What's up?" She had the look on her face when they were about to be ambushed by a bunch of Aragami. He looked around nervously and cocked his gun at the ready. Well if anything was around, he would blast it out of the sky!

"Kota? What section of the residential district are we in?"

"Huh?" Kota stared at her dumbstruck. It wasn't like her to ask a question like that.

"I was too busy reading the reports of the Aragami and didn't pay attention to the section. What section are we in?"

"A-2? Why do you ask?"

Aria stiffened for a moment but then relaxed. "Oh…A-2 huh…"

"Hey Aria, what's wrong?" Was there something wrong with A-2? Kota tried to think over everything he knew about it but nothing came to mind. This was just like any old section of the Outer Ghetto. Nothing important or special happened here.

Aria shook her head and smiled. "It's nothing. Should we go back and wait for the chopper? Brendan and Tatsumi should be done soon. We can watch some Bugarally when we get back."

Kota's face lit up. "Yeah! Let's do that!"

The two turned to head back to where the chopper had dropped them off. They didn't get very far as a voice echoed from behind them.

"Aria? Aria? Is that you?"

The two God Eaters turned to see a young woman run over to them. Her dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and it bobbed back and forth as she ran over.

"Aria! It is you!"

"Ayame…" whispered Aria.

"I can't believe it, I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?" She gasped as her eyes took in Aria's God Arc. "You are a God Eater after all! I'm so happy for you!"

"Uh Aria?" asked Kota in shock. He looked back and forth between the two girls as his brain tried to process what was going on in front of him. Aria knew someone from A-2? How?

"Oh, right. Uh, Ayame, this is Kota. He's one of my fellow God Eaters. Kota, this is Ayame…"

Ayame gave Kota a bright smiles "Nice to meet you Kota. I hope Aria has not been much of a bother."

"Oh she's not been a bother at all," Kota said quickly. "In fact she is-"

"That's enough Kota," Aria put in. She turned back to Ayame. "How are the others doing? Fine?"

Ayame nodded. "Somewhat I guess. We're all still around so that's a good thing I would say."

"Ayame! What are you doing over there?"

Ayame turned to the voice. "Jun! Jun, look who it is! It's Aria! She's a God Eater!"

Kota spotted a young man by one of the houses. He was leaning against a wall with arms crossed. He glared at Aria and Kota for a few seconds before turning away. "Come on Ayame, we need to check on our place. Got to make sure the _God Eaters_ didn't mess it up this time."

"Oh come on Jun, don't be like that!" protested Ayame.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, you go on ahead, we need to head back to the Den soon as well," put in Aria.

"Well I'll tell the others that you stopped by, I'm sure they would love to hear about it," said Ayame. She dipped her head slightly to Kota. "It was nice meeting you."

"Oh, it was nice meeting you too."

"Come on, let's go Kota."

Kota gave one last look at the retreating Ayame before following his leader. Questions were on the tip of his tongue but as he stared at Aria's back, he did not want to voice them.

* * *

Soma plopped his meal down at the table before he sat down with the other members of the First Unit, minus Aria. He used to always take his meals in his room as to avoid having to deal with other people. He did not enjoy the words people said about him behind his back. However, after that idiot had ended up as First Unit's leader it seemed like the First Unit had changed and in turn she had affected everyone else at the branch as well. Now people at the Branch did not see him as a monster anymore, more like one of the stronger members of the First Unit.

"Aria said she's going to be coming down later. She was finishing up the report from today's mission," said Kota.

"Wasn't today's mission Tatsumi's?" asked Alisa. "Why is she writing the report instead of him?"

"She insisted on doing it when we were in the helicopter on the way back," replied Kota. "Oh but get this, something very _interesting_ happened during today's mission."

"Really?" Sakuya's voice was slow. Not like Soma could blame her. The last time Kota said something was interesting it was because he had found a rock that looked like a bug from that Bugarally show he watched.

"No, I'm serious this time guys!" protested Kota. He glanced around the cafeteria before leaning in closer. "So we were in A-2 right? We were heading back to the pick-up location and this girl came up to Aria. They knew each other! And not even that, there was a guy too. He didn't seem very happy that she was there but she knew both of them."

"Well it would make sense that she would know someone from outside the Den," Lindow pointed out. "I mean, it's not like we all just grew up in the Den…" He glanced over at Soma, who just shrugged. It was the truth, no point in taking offense to it.

"Yeah but that got me thinking." Kota rested his arms on the table, dinner forgotten. "I've never heard Aria talk about them. I mean, I talk about Mom and Nozomi all the time."

"Yes, you do have a point." Alisa tapped her finger against the table. "I've never even seen her take a vacation day to spend time with them either."

"Now that you mention it…" Sakuya frowned. "Lindow, remember when she was first assigned here? How Tsubaki introduced her?"

"No last name…" murmured Lindow. "And none in the records either…"

Soma was not about to contribute to this conversation. However he also felt the same confusion as what the others were probably feeling. She knew about all of their lives but none of them really knew hers before she came to the Den. He couldn't remember any one incident where she slipped up about something about her life before becoming a God Eater.

For some reason, that thought really bothered him.

"Hey guys, why do you all seem like you are deep in thought? Are we talking philosophy or something?" Aria plopped down at the table. "Sorry it took so long, that report ended up taking a bit longer than I thought it would…" She looked around the table. "Why does everyone seem so dark all of a sudden?"

"Uh…Leader…." began Alisa. "Can we ask you something?"

"Sure?" Aria blinked slowly and looked around the table. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?" She was slipping back into captain mode.

"No, nothing like that," put in Kota. "I...uh, I was just telling everyone about what happened today…with Ayame?"

"Oh, Ayame." She relaxed. "You are wondering how I know her? Well, we grew up together. Me, her and a bunch of other kids."

"So you two are sisters?" asked Sakuya.

Aria shook her head. "No, nothing like that. We were all orphans."

Soma almost dropped his spoon. Orphan? She was an orphan? Everyone else at the table seemed to have the same reaction. It wasn't the fact that she was an orphan, heck everyone had some tragedy in their lives, it was the nonchalant way she had said it. Like she was talking about the weather or what they were going to have for dinner.

"Oh my," Alisa ventured in. "You raised yourselves?"

Aria shook her head. "No, Nee-san took care of us. She was older. She raised a bunch of us together." She shrugged. "She was the older sister slash mother for the rest of us."

"'Was'?" whispered Alisa.

Aria nodded. "Well, we don't know what exactly happened to her. She became a God Eater when I was ten. When I was twelve she stopped visiting us." Aria shrugged. "Don't know what happened to her."

"Did you check the records?" asked Lindow. "She might have been transferred to a different branch."

Aria pushed strands of her black hair behind her ear. "I guess I could but, this is going to sound dumb but I never knew her name. None of us did. She was always Nee-san to us. So I couldn't even look her up even now. Anyway, why'd you ask about this anyway Kota?"

"Curiosity I would say," put in Lindow. "I mean we've never heard you talking about them before."

"And you haven't visited them either," put in Sakuya.

"Oh well that's because of Jun." Aria gestured to Kota. "You remember him right? The one that yelled? We had a sort of…falling out when I left to become a God Eater. He is pretty much the leader of the gang in a sense so I felt like it would have been weird to go visit you know? Anyway, doesn't this soup taste funny to you guys?"

"Now that you mention it, it seems to have a weird aftertaste…" said Sakuya.

Soma silently watched as the conversation shifted away from Aria. Was it really that simple? He did not know if he was reading her right but her smile seemed strained. She was playing with the string of her hoodie with a hand. She was engaged in the conversation but it seemed to him, in her eyes, she wanted to leave.

"Soma? Earth to Soma?" Kota waved his hand in front of Soma's face.

Soma blinked. "What was that for?" he snapped.

"You were staring off into space!" If Kota was standing he would have jumped away.

"More like staring at a certain someone," murmured Lindow.

Soma did not like the glint in Lindow's eyes. Aria was staring at him now too, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Is anything wrong Soma?" she asked.

Damn it. Soma stood. "I'm done," he grumbled. He headed for the back to toss the dishes and tray away. He could hear their half-hearted attempts to call him back but they didn't push it further, like always. He took a wide berth around the table as he headed for the elevator. He couldn't figure out why her strained smile just would not leave his head.

"It's none of my business," he growled as he smashed the button for the elevator. But even though he told himself that, why did it still bother him so much?

* * *

Aria collapsed face-down on her bed. She turned her head to stare at the area by her couch. On the shelf that took up the back wall was a collection of photos that spoke of her time here as a God Eater. There was nothing there that even hinted at what her life was like before becoming a God Eater (although they didn't have a camera in the Outer Ghetto).

She had tried to keep everything away from that time from her room to keep it out of her mind but in the end it ended up catching up with her after all.

She remembered how everyone looked at the table when Kota asked her about Ayame. She had answered of course, it would have been weird if she didn't. True, she didn't feel any problem with admitting she was an orphan. It was a common story in this day and age and she didn't remember her real parents. All she could remember was being raised by Nee-san.

Frowning her thoughts shifted to Jun. He looked alright from the glimpse she had of him from afar. "Still angry though," she murmured. She shut her eyes as her thoughts drifted back to the memory of that day…

* * *

"Jun…" Aria looked over at Ayame for support. The girl just nodded and prompted Aria to continue.

Jun was in the middle of weaving a basket-trap out of some branches he had found on the street. Mizuno was sitting nearby, weaving her own basket. Jiro, Shin and a couple of the others were out to see if they could gather anything else for dinner tonight. Despite the fact that most of the kids that were raised by Nee-san were now nearing adulthood, they still stuck together no matter what. They were family. They also continued to help out the community by taking in any orphan children they found. They didn't want anyone else to live without the feeling of having a family.

_But I am going to break this family apart a little_…

"What's up Aria?" Jun looked up.

Aria took a deep breath and let her emotions fall away. She needed to stay calm no matter what. She needed to be a tactician and guess how Jun was going to react. All of her theories went back to one thought. Not good.

"Aria has something very important to tell you Jun. Please listen to her till the end," said Ayame.

Aria squeezed her sister's hand for a few seconds. Ayame was the only one she told in advance. "Jun. The God Eaters have done another round of tests in the area to find new God Eaters."

"They have huh?" Jun returned to his basket-weaving but he was pulling at the branches harder than before. "Stupid Fenrir, sticking their nose where they do not belong. Always looking for new people to toss into that Organization and then send them off to die."

"Well I've taken the test as well," continued Aria. She noted the clipped edge to Jun's voice.

"Oh?" Jun looked up. "Did they do it because they promised food? Did you actually get any food out of it? We might be able to do that to feed some of the younger ones. Touma is starting his growth spurt so he's always hungry."

Aria shook her head. "The food isn't important here. Jun, I tested positive. And not just for any kind of God Eater but a New-Type."

"A New-Type huh? Interesting name they are coming up with. You just walked out of there right? Laughed in their faces or something?"

"Nee-san was an Old-Type so this is a big deal," put in Ayame.

Aria held up a hand and gestured for Ayame to step away. "Jun, I'm being serious here." She looked around the shabby house. It was one of the bigger ones in A-2 because they had a lot of people who lived under this one roof. It could not compare to the cleanliness and the brightness that the testing room had. She sighed and took in a deep breath. "Jun, I took them up on the offer, I'm going to be a God Eater."

Snap.

The branch Jun was holding broke in half as he stared up at Aria. Mizuno's eyes were wide and the younger girl looked back and forth between Jun and Aria in horror.

"Please Jun," begged Ayame. "This will be good for us. Aria would get paid a lot more as a God Eater, we won't have to worry as much."

"A God Eater!? You want to become a God Eater!?" Jun got to his feet, his basket forgotten. "Aria! You know what the God Eaters did! You saw how Nee-san looked whenever she visited! Remember her last visit before she disappeared for good!?"

Aria shivered as she thought of it. Nee-san had looked a bit out there. She had looked over her shoulder a lot, like she was afraid there was something after her. She had kept the meeting short before disappearing never to return.

"I know Nee-san was like that, but that can't be how it always is. There are some possible side effects with becoming a God Eater, Nee-san probably just had a problem. The technology is better now, I should be fine."

"'Should'!? You are going to base it on the fact that you could be fine!? What about Mizuno? Ayame? Shin? Jiro? Touma? You are just going to abandon them and just run off to become a God Eater?"

"Jun," Aria struggled to keep her voice level and her whole body relaxed. If she got riled up it would only make things worse. "This is better for everyone in the long run."

"Better for you I would say," spat Jun. "You are just going to leave everyone behind like Nee-san. You are going to become a part of that dreaded Organization which will ruin your life and leave everyone else guessing what happened to you!"

"Stop it Jun!" cried Ayame. "You don't have to yell at her like that!"

"Of course I have to! How else am I going to get it through her thick skull?" Jun again gestured to the shabby house. "Aria, you and me, we are considered the leaders of this family. We are the older brother and sister that need to take care of everyone. You have a tactical mind and we need that here. You always have plans and strategies to solve any problem we face. You are just going to leave that all behind?"

"Don't worry…I planned for this," said Aria. "I thought of ideas, and strategies."

"She even wrote a bunch down for us to use while she's busy." Ayame pulled the papers out of her pocket and held them out for Jun to take. Aria had written in her smallest handwriting and used every inch of the paper to write strategies that could help the others out in any crisis.

Jun took the papers from Ayame and looked them over. "You're serious about this," he murmured.

"Yes I am." Aria's voice did not waver. She had a couple of days to think it over. She heard what the Far East Branch had told her. She would be the first New-Type of the Branch. She had strength and abilities the Old-Types didn't have at all. It would be stupid for her to not take this chance.

Jun gritted his teeth. He looked Aria in the eye and ripped the papers in half.

"Jun!" cried Ayame.

"You are not allowed here anymore," Jun said in a dangerous low voice. "I won't let you cause any more suffering for this family."

Aria remembered when Nee-san had not visited for a couple of months. Jun had been upset for weeks, throwing tantrums constantly They were twelve, only children when they were tossed out on their own. They had to become adults to care for the other kids and Aria had adapted faster than Jun did.

"Jun! You can't do that!" cried Ayame.

"Yes Jun, don't do that," echoed Mizuno in her soft voice.

"I made up my mind. Leave." Jun turned his back to her and sat back down to work on his basket weaving. "You will never be allowed back here again."

"Alright," Aria whispered. She turned away and grabbed her pack by the door.

"Aria…"

Aria smiled at Ayame. The girl was only a year younger than Aria but now she reminded Aria of a lost child. "Ayame, you need to step it up now and take care of everyone." She looked at Jun's back and the angry way he stabbed the branches into each other. "Take care of everyone, including Jun."

"Aria…you are really…"

"Jun is the boss around here and you and I both know that."

"You were also a boss as well." Mizuno walked over to Ayame and grasped the older girl's hand like a lifeline. "You're really going?"

Aria ruffled the younger girl's hair. "Yeah I'm going. Say bye to the others for me okay?"

Ayame rubbed her eyes but the tears did not stop pouring. "I…I will…"

Aria gave one last look at Jun's back before she turned and walked out, never looking back.

* * *

True to her word, she never did step foot back in A-2. It wasn't much of a problem since the First Unit was the Assault Squad so she always fighting beyond the Anti-Aragami wall. She had thought about sending her first paycheck to them but she didn't do it at the last moment. She knew if Jun got to it first he would rip it up without thinking of the money.

"They seemed okay…" Aria stared up at her ceiling. Ayame looked a little skinner since back then but the girl also seemed to be taller as well.

"I hope everyone else is fine as well." Aria got to her feet and walked over to her fridge. She cracked it open but frowned when she saw the lack of drinks in there. Due to the amount of free-time she had recently, she had spent a lot of it in her room going over strategies for fighting stronger Aragami, such as the Venus. That also meant she drank the drinks she stored in her fridge and she kept forgetting about restocking them.

"Guess now's the best time…" She grabbed her wallet and headed for the vending machines just down the hall from her room.

"Hmmm…" She slowly trailed her hand over the many buttons as she tried to calculate which drinks she should buy. Kota and Alisa liked hanging out in her room every once in a while so she should stock up on drinks for them. Thankfully Sakuya and Lindow brought their own beer when they visited so she never needed to worry about that.

"I can get about four of these and about three of these…"

"Are you going to be done sometime today?"

Aria looked up in surprise to see Soma standing behind her. "Oh! Hey Soma." She turned back to the drink machine and then back at him. Did he want to buy something? She stood and stepped to the side. "Go ahead, I'm going to be here for a while, need to restock."

"You need to make them buy their own drinks." He put his money into the machine and pushed a button. "They have money too."

Aria shrugged. "It's easier this way, plus I know Kota is sending a lot of his money to his family and Alisa…well I'm not exactly sure what she does with her paycheck…wait, did you just snicker at me?"

"No," he replied quickly. He tugged the top of his hood to cover more of his face.

"You were," she protested. "Really now Soma, are you just jealous that I don't buy you drinks? Well I would if you actually visited my room like Alisa and Kota!" Actually, now that she was thinking about it, everyone visited her room to hang out but Soma. Well, she had to give him credit for sitting with them during dinner at least. He was getting there, slowly.

"I don't have much to talk about with them," replied Soma. He picked up the can of coffee and opened it.

"Well if you are done with the vending machine, can you please move out of the way?"

Soma shifted to the left and leaned against the wall, sipping away at his coffee as Aria began buying drinks.

"Do you really not trust us?"

Aria almost smacked her head against the machine. "What?" She looked up at Soma.

He shook his head. "It's nothing…"

"That is not nothing!" Aria scrambled to her feet and grabbed the arm of his jacket before he could walk away. "Of course I trust you guys, we all go into battle together." She smiled. "I kinda need to trust you guys."

Soma sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."

Aria crossed her arms. "Then…how did you mean it?"

Soma looked away. "You seem to know about everyone else's past around here and yet we knew nothing about you. You should have seen how Kota and Alisa looked when they realized they really didn't know anything about you, like a bunch of sad little puppies."

Oh. Aria looked back at the vending machine. So that was what this was about. "Well…just for the record, I found out yours by accident really. I didn't know the disk Dr. Sakaki gave me were files about you." She winced. From the way he was glaring at her, it looked like that did nothing to lighten his mood.

She sighed. Soma could be so intense about the weirdest of things. "Well it was more or less, I think I was trying to forget them," she replied. "Jun is the type to hold grudges. I remember one time when a shopkeeper ripped Kimi, she was one of the younger kids, off on some food. I figured that the shopkeeper just did not have enough supplies to go around but Jun took it personally. He banned us from going to that shop again.

"I didn't care about it that much but the younger kids really look up to him. It was best for me to not go back and risk them getting in trouble with him." She paused as she thought of something. "Oh but Jun isn't a bad guy. He's really great when you get to know him, he just seems really prickly at first."

"It sounds like you really miss them."

Aria hoisted the bag of drinks onto her shoulder. "I guess I do but I made up my mind when I made the choice to become a God Eater. I don't regret that decision. Anyway, have a good evening Soma."

* * *

Soma watched as Aria headed back to her room. She had sounded normal when she had talked to him. Again he was hit with how strange that seemed. Again she had spoken like it was the weather or something else that was light and fluffy.

Now that he was thinking about it, he realized that he never had seen her with any sort of sadness. Hell, did she even cry? Even when Shio died, she did not cry. She had looked forlorn, sure, but she had not cried like Alisa did. She had stared him straight in the eye and nodded when Shio had requested to be devoured.

"_Do it for her sake Soma…"_

Her voice had not wavered. No hesitation. He knew if he couldn't do it, she would have done it in his place. "Sometimes I wonder if you are more of a monster than me…" Soma stared at her closed door.

Again he was struck by the weirdness of his actions. He had stepped out because he had heard her in the hallway. Why did he end up coming out here to talk to her? It wasn't the first time he had heard her walking around outside at this time. She was always buying drinks now and then. Why did he come out and talk to her?

He crossed his arms and leaned against the machine. Was he getting that soft? Was he actually worried about her after that talk during dinner? "What the hell is wrong with me?"

The elevator opened and Sakuya and Lindow stepped out. Sakuya's arm was around Lindow's waist while his was around her shoulders.

"Oh? What are you doing out here Soma?" asked Sakuya.

"Huh, it isn't like you to hang out here," commented Lindow.

"Shut up," growled Soma. He tossed the empty can in the garbage before heading back to his room.

* * *

Aria rested her God Arc on her shoulder and stared down at the dead bodies of a Dyaus Pita and a Prithvi Mata. The few days of peace for the First Unit did not last. It was like the Aragami knew and they fought back with a vengeance.

"Good job guys," she said as she turned to her team.

Alisa and Kota nodded to her. Due to the amount of the missions that were being put out, she had split the team up in half with Soma and Sakuya going with Lindow.

"I can't wait to take a hot shower tonight." Alisa fanned herself with a hand. "It's really muggy today. Aren't you roasting in that Aria?"

Aria looked down at her hoodie and shrugged. "Not really? I'm used to fighting in this…"

"That's our Captain, always keeping her cool!" laughed Kota.

Once the trio returned to the Den they were met with a frenzy of activities. People were running around carrying blankets and other supplies.

"Whoa…what happened here…" murmured Kota.

"Come on, we'll ask Hibari." Aria made her way through the crowd. She noted there were a lack of God Eaters in the den. "Hey Hibari, what's going on?"

Hibari was furiously typing away on her computer and listing orders through her headset. Tsubaki was next to her with her signature clipboard. She seemed to be furiously writing something down.

"Oh there you are Aria. Your team will be the only one on standby here in the Den."

"The 'only one'?" asked Alisa.

Tsubaki nodded. Her expression softened as she gazed at Aria. "I heard from Lindow that you are from A-2 in the Outer Ghetto."

"Uh…yes?" Dang, that did not take long at all to spread throughout the Den. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Tsubaki stood straight. "The Anti-Aragami wall around A-2 has been breached. There's a hole in the wall, letting hordes of Aragami in."

Aria could feel her body starting to stiffen at the news and her eyes began to widen. As fast as the feeling came on, she quickly reined in her emotions and shoved them into a corner of herself. This was no time to react in that way.

Alisa and Kota had the emotional reaction she refused to have. "Are the people okay?" asked Alisa. Her hands were pressed against her chest. Her eyes shifted over to Aria and then back to Tsubaki.

"They have been evacuated out of the area," said Tsubaki. "They are going to be living in one of the lower areas of the Den until we can repair the wall."

Kota sighed. "That's good, right Aria? They're probably okay."

Aria smiled and nodded to Kota. However one thing was still bothering her. "What about the rest of the Outer Ghetto? If there's a hole in it…" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alisa grab Kota's arm to give him support.

"We have been able to keep the Aragami in the A-2 block for now. While the God Eaters are keeping the Aragami at bay, a temporary Anti-Aragami Wall is being put up to keep them out from the rest of the Ghetto until we can get the Wall fixed. However, we must always have a couple God Eaters in the area to keep it safe. The temporary wall will be able to keep back the smaller Aragami but the stronger ones might be able to break it. Dr. Sakaki isn't a hundred percent sure if that is even true so better safe than sorry."

"But why aren't we out there fighting too?" asked Kota. "I mean, with a team like ours, we'll be able to help a lot!"

"You three are on standby in case something else happens. Remember the last time we had no combat personal in the Den?"

Aria could feel Tsubaki's eyes strike daggers at her. "For the record, I did end up bringing Lindow back because that happened," she put in.

Tsubaki shook her head. "I'm always impressed with how you can joke at times like this. Anyway, you three get some rest." She turned back to Hibari. "Catch me up on everything that has happened so far."

Knowing the conversation was over, the three God Eaters headed up the stairs to the small couches.

"Now I know how you must have felt being stuck here all by yourself while everyone was out," sighed Kota. "I don't know how you dealt with it. I just want to go out there and pound all those Aragami into dust."

"For the record I did fight an Aragami," reminded Aria. "Just…not with my own God Arc."

Alisa shook her head and leaned over to grasp Aria's hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Aria smiled. "I'm fine Alisa, really." She pulled her hand away just in case resonance occurred between the two of them. Alisa didn't have to know that Aria's stomach had a dull ache to it. She was a God Eater now. She needed to be ready in case she was needed to fight.

"I envy you sometimes," sighed Kota. "You're always so good at focusing on the mission at hand. If it was E-26…"

The three God Eaters looked up as Tsubaki walked over to them.

"Is something wrong?" asked Aria.

"Do we need to be sent out?" asked Alisa.

Tsubaki shook her head and turned to Aria. "Since you are from A-2, I thought I would ask you first. There is a young man causing trouble down in the refugee hold. A lot of angry yelling and what not."

Aria groaned. "Why am I not surprised?" She got to her feet. "I'll take care of it. It's probably Jun."

"Should we come too?" asked Kota.

Aria shook her head. "No I got it. You two stay here in case we need to be sent out. Don't wait for me if it does happen. I'll catch the next chopper."

"Thank you Aria," said Tsubaki. "They are on the warehouse floor."

Aria nodded and took the elevator down. She didn't usually come down here. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, she had never been to the residential area of the Den for non-God Eaters. There was really no point to.

The doors opened and she stepped out. The warehouse was a huge room. Usually there would be boxes and various other things in storage scattered everywhere. It had been cleared out and now there were people everywhere. Some had set up tents with the blankets they were given. There were a couple of Den staff handing out supplies in various parts of the room.

It was easy for Aria to spot Jun (plus it probably helped that the elevator area was on an elevated platform from the rest of the warehouse). He was near the edge of the crowd and, of course, yelling at how this was all caused by the God Eaters negligence of the Anti-Aragami Wall.

"Happy reunion to us," murmured Aria as she hurried down the stairs.

Ayame and Jiro were trying to calm him down but to no avail. Aria didn't know if it was a good thing or not that she didn't spot anyone else from their family there. Oh wait, there was Mizuno at the food handout. She had to smile at that sight. It was just like the time in the Outer Ghetto when the group would split up to take care of the day's chores.

Kimi had returned with a pile of blankets. She put them to the side, out of Jun's direct line of sight, and sat down quietly.

"Jun," spoke up Aria. "Please stop."

Jun stopped in mid-tirade and turned his blue eyes to her. It looked like the storm that appeared in them when he was angry did not change from the last time she had seen him.

"Aria!" Ayame sighed in relief.

Jiro nodded to her but he was smiling as well.

Aria wished she had the same amount of confidence in being able to calm Jun down as they thought she did.

Jun crossed his arms and glared at her. "Oh, look who decided to show up, a _God Eater_. What are you going to do, gut me like you do one of those Aragami?"

"Jun, come on now," Aria said softly. "You need to calm down."

"Calm _down_? _Calm down_? You want me to calm down? Really?" He gestured behind him to Kimi. The younger girl jumped but didn't say anything. "I can't calm down. It's because of you God Eaters that Shin did not make it!"

"Jun…what?"

"Shin got attacked by an Aragami when we were escaping," Jiro explained quietly. "He didn't make it and we had to leave him there."

Aria grabbed her emotions and reined them in fast and shoved them to the side. Shin was…dead? He was only three years younger than Aria and loved playing practical jokes on everyone. And now he was gone?

"Yeah, Shin did not make it because you God Eaters messed up!" snapped Jun. He smiled but it was by no means happy. "What were you doing? Probably lounging around, enjoying your new life here."

"Jun, please stop," whispered Ayame. "Really Aria, he doesn't mean it."

"Be quiet Ayame," snapped Jun. "I sure as hell do mean it. All you God Eaters do is cause trouble for everyone around here!"

"Jun, I know you're angry," Aria began. She kept her voice steady and low. It would do no good to get riled up. She was still trying to process the fact that Shin was gone in the back of her mind. "But you can't get angry like this, out loud." She gestured to the people around them. "Jun, these people are like you, they have been kicked out of their homes. They want some peace and quiet now to recover from the ordeal so-"

"Oh look at you," Jun crossed his arms. "Look at this, Jiro, Ayame, she's acting the same as before. Always looking out for other people but with that stupid tactician look on her face. It's always been hard to tell what you are thinking when you have that face but I think it's gotten even worse now." He gestured to her armlet. "Pumped you full of drugs right? Having trouble keeping everything straight in your head? Brainwashed you right?" He lowered his voice to a sadistic whisper. "Are you even human right now?"

* * *

Soma followed Lindow and Sakuya into the Den. It was always exhausting being with these two when they weren't actively in combat. It was like those two just couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Out of curiosity he had searched up files about married couples and apparently this was normal behavior. Even more so as God Eaters as one did not know if they would survive another day.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" asked Lindow. Alisa and Kota were sitting on the couches. They both seemed slightly antsy.

"Where's Aria?" asked Sakuya.

Soma looked around but he didn't see the black-haired leader anywhere.

"Well, she went down to where the refugees are," said Alisa. "Apparently one of them was being very loud and rough and Tsubaki wanted her to take care of it."

"She mentioned it was the guy, Jun," put in Kota. "I remember seeing him from when Aria and I were in the area and he seemed very mad when he saw her."

"So you're worried about her," Lindow put in. "Well, we can go down and check, right?"

"But we're on standby in case something happens. Aria told us to stay here," put in Alisa.

"I'll stay up here," offered Sakuya. "The Aragami have mostly been cleared out so now the Defense Squad is handling it by themselves. You guys won't be gone long so I'll call if anything happens." She stretched her arms over her head and cracked a smile. "Plus I could use some time off my feet."

"You're the best Sakuya." Lindow gave her a quick hug and a peck on the lips. "Soma, come on, let's go."

Soma frowned. He did not like how Lindow just lumped him in with everyone else. However from how Kota had described this Jun fellow, he was a bit worried about Aria. Not like he would admit that out loud. "Alright, I'm coming," he murmured.

The four God Eaters were silent as they took the elevator down to the warehouse floor. The doors opened and the first thing Soma heard was a girl's voice yelling, "Don't say that about her Jun! Aria is Aria!"

"What in the world is going on," murmured Lindow. The four God Eaters walked to the edge of the railing that separated the raised platform from the rest of the warehouse. It was easy to spot Aria near the front as she was the only one with a God Eater armlet.

"This seems more like a family quarrel than anything else," said Lindow. "It might be best for us to stay out of it…"

"Really?" spat a young man, was that Jun? "And yet here she is with no emotion on her face." He leaned in close to Aria's face. "Do you even remember Nee-san? Can you remember how she was when she last saw us?"

"Of course I remember Nee-san," Aria said quietly.

Like every time before, Soma was impressed with how Aria could stay calm in situations like this.

"Really? I doubt it," Jun looked away in disgust.

"No, she does," put in the girl next to Aria. "Look! She's wearing the hoodie that Nee-san gave her!"

"I feel like we should help or do something," said Kota. "This is…kinda painful to watch."

"Maybe we should go," suggested Alisa.

Soma had to agree. This was too personal for his taste.

"Oh that's it huh. You want to become like Nee-san? Is that it? Going to disappear in a year or two?" Soma couldn't see Aria's face from his position but Jun didn't seem to like it as he balled his hands into fists. "Stop looking at me with that face. Stop looking at me with pity. We are fine, we are fine without you around."

"Jun…" began Aria.

"Don't you Jun me! I'm sick of it! Always with that look! You always have that same look! Change it for once! Stop it!"

"Jun, you need to calm down," said a young man to Jun's left.

Soma could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He had a feeling that something was going to happen.

"Jun…"

"I said, don't you _Jun _me!"

Soma saw it in slow motion. Jun lifted his fist. He swung it. Alisa made a choked sound of surprise. He saw Aria stumble back.

He didn't know how he got down there. One second he was standing at the railing, the next, he was on the main floor. His hand gripped the front of Jun's shirt tightly as he slammed the other young man into the wall. He glared at the s.o.b. with pure hatred. Soma had wanted to kill a few humans over the years but this was the first time he ever felt such a rage to someone that was not directly related to something that had happened to him.

Jun struggled for a few seconds. He opened his mouth to retort something but he froze after seeing the rage screaming in Soma's eyes.

"Soma, leave him."

Aria.

Soma ignored her. What should he do first? Punching the guy would probably be the best. What afterwards though?

"_Soma_. Put. Him. Down."

He stiffened and glanced back at Aria. Alisa and Kota were on either side of her. She had one hand to her cheek. It looked like the punch had not even bruised her. Of course her oracle cells would make her tougher than the average human.

Other than her hand on her cheek, she stood straight. Her eyes were dark as she locked eyes with him. "Put him down," she ordered. Her captain voice. It was the one she used out on the battlefield. He had never heard her use that voice in the Den.

Soma gritted his teeth but he released Jun and stepped a few steps back. He gave the pitiful human one last cold stare before he headed for the elevator.

* * *

Well this had become a mess.

Lindow scratched the back of his head with his normal hand as Soma stormed towards the elevator.

"I should get going as well," Aria said quietly. She cracked a small smile at the girl. "See you later Ayame."

The girl nodded and glanced back and forth between Aria and Jun. "Uh yeah, see you later."

Lindow crossed his arms as he watched Alisa and Kota trail after Aria like a couple of ducklings. Both of them glared at Jun when they were sure Aria wasn't looking. It didn't look like she was paying much attention to either of them at all.

"Word of advice around here," began Lindow.

"One of you is still around?" snapped Jun. He was dusting the front of his shirt. "Crazy guy he was." He stared at Lindow's arm. "Well maybe he wasn't the only one."

"Jun, that was really uncalled for," spoke the other male.

Lindow crossed his arms. Oh this guy was a piece of work. "Around here God Eaters are the cream of the crop. We're the ones out there fighting the crazy Aragami to make sure people like you have something to complain about. We all have a pretty thick skin when it comes to barbs against us."

He narrowed his eyes as Jun turned away. "Lieutenant Aria of the First Unit. Captain of the Assault Squad."

"Captain?" whispered the girl. Her eyes widen and she looked at the other boy and the girl. "Aria is a captain!?"

"So?" snapped Jun. "That's supposed to mean something?"

"Obviously that means nothing to you but for us here it means everything. She is our strongest God Eater and a New-Type to boot. She has excellent resonance ability and a great tactical mind. She was a crucial part to stopping the Devouring Apocalypse as well as bringing back a God Eater that had lost his way."

"Tsk, there is no point to this."

Lindow flexed his inhuman hand. "Basically she is the one person around here that you do not want to mess with. You will make enemies of every single God Eater stationed here. And if you lay a hand on her again, don't expect her to be able to save you. Unlike Soma I will disregard her order and kill you myself."

Leaving the boy with the words, Lindow headed for the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

Soma stared up at his ceiling from his bed. What the hell was he doing? He stared at his hand. Despite it being an hour since the incident happened he was still pissed off at that Jun guy. However, now that he was thinking about it, she could have blocked the punch. He didn't know the exact way oracle cells affected normal humans but she should have been able to block him without any trouble. Why didn't she?

"Why the hell does this matter?" he groaned. He rested his arm over his eyes. It was so much better being a loner. He never had thoughts like this before. Hell, he never _cared_ about how his other teammates were feeling before she came around.

He heard noises from the hallway. Probably Alisa and Kota. He had heard them earlier go into Aria's room. For a moment he thought of just letting them pass but at the last moment he hopped out of bed and opened his door.

Alisa and Kota looked back at him in surprise.

"Gah, what's up Soma?" asked Kota.

Soma walked down to the hall to wait for the elevator with them. Since Aria's room was on the other end, she would be unable to accidentally overhear the conversation.

"How…"He stared at the ground. Saying something like this was so unlike him. "How is she?"

Alisa and Kota exchanged glances. "We're not sure," said Alisa. "She seemed a little dazed until we got to her room."

"It was weird. It was like a switch turned on and she started talking to us like normal. We hung out and stuff but…" Kota shook his head. "It was odd…"

"Yes, I have to agree with Kota, it was odd." Alisa said. "I wanted to perform a resonance with her to get an understanding of her emotions but…" Alisa stared down at her hand and sighed. "Unfortunately I'm not as good at it like she is. I wasn't able to get anything out of it."

The elevator doors silently slid open.

"You should try," suggested Kota. "Maybe you'll be able to figure it out."

Soma crossed his arms. "I doubt it but I will attempt it."

"Good luck," said Alisa.

As the elevator door closed, Soma turned and headed for her room. He stood outside her door and lifted his hand to knock and then dropped it. What the hell was he doing? He was actually doing something Kota said. How in the world did it come to this? He did not like the mixed emotions within him. "Maybe it is better to be a loner…"he murmured.

However he was already here. And right now, in front of her door, he could not get the damned picture of her holding her cheek with her captain-face out of his head. "Damn it," he grumbled as he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. "It's me."

The door slid open. "Hey Soma," said Aria from the couch. There were some opened drinks on the table along with some paperwork. "What's up?" she asked as she began clearing the paperwork. "Tsubaki sent me the files on what was going on in A-2. I'm trying to figure out a good schedule to patrol the area."

"Isn't that Tsubaki's job?" Soma leaned against the frame of her doorway. He had never visited her room before. There was no point to. He didn't have "movie nights" with her like Kota and Alisa did. Apparently members of the Defense Squad came every now and then too. They talked in the cafeteria and other parts of the Den. She had walked into his room a few times but she was out of there as quickly as she had come in.

Aria shrugged. "Yeah maybe. But she wants my second opinion on the matter." She twirled a pen with her fingers. "Although the biggest problem is fixing the wall itself. Dr. Sakaki thinks it would be best to make the piece here in the Den and then just shove it in there once it is ready. Of course keeping the area safe until then is the hard part…"

Soma stared at her. No wonder Kota and Alisa had seemed a bit freaked out. She really was acting like everything was normal.

"Soma…is something wrong? You're staring at me pretty intensely there…"

Soma shifted his attention to her eyes. They were a very odd magenta color he realized. Sometimes they seemed more pink, other times more purple. "Why didn't you block it?"

Her eyes shifted down to the papers. "Jun just wanted to vent out his anger. If I blocked it, or dodged it would be no good."

What the hell? Soma's hands tightened into fists. "What the hell does _that_ mean?"

Aria shrugged. "We sparred a lot. It helped both of us keep sharp since we had to take care of everyone else. It might seem weird to you but I'm used to him trying to hit me." She laughed. "I usually hit back too." She touched her cheek. "Although it is a bit shocking that it didn't hurt as much it used to. Fighting Aragami is like a whole different story."

This wasn't the first time he wanted to strangle her. "You know you can trust us right?" he snapped. He remembered how she looked after she had seen the disk with his past on it. She had approached him, tentatively, but with no pity. She had accepted him for who he was with no questions asked. Why the hell did it take until now for him to realize he truly knew nothing about her?

She tilted her head slightly. "That's a silly question Soma. Of course I trust you guys."

BS. He knew she was lying through her teeth. Did she truly trust them? She obviously trusted them on the battlefield that was for sure. Why did it piss him off so much that she was not opening to him?

"But still, I'm sorry about Jun. He was saying stuff about God Eaters out of line there," she said quietly. "You probably won't believe me but he's a good guy. He's just really stressed right now."

"Stressed? That was stressed?"

"I know, it's weird." She wrapped her finger against the tie of the hoodie. "He was never okay with God Eaters after Nee-san disappeared and then I ended up becoming one too." She shrugged.

How the hell was she talking about this so calmly? "Aria, I'm being serous about what I said before. If you want to talk to any of us, I'm sure anyone here will listen to you."

Again with the head tilt. "Thank you Soma but…"

"I know, I know. I'm leaving now," he ended gruffly before he left her room and headed for his own. For once he wished he was like Lindow and Sakuya and kept beer in his room. He felt like he needed a drink right now.

* * *

Aria let her smile slip away as the door shut behind Soma. She leaned her head against the back of the couch and pressed her hands against her eyes. "Damn it, damn it damn it," she murmured. Keeping to together for that hour Kota and Alisa was here was difficult. A part of her wanted to spill out that she wasn't fine, the fact that Jun had yelled at her had really hurt. The words hurt way more than the punch did.

She was happy with the two had ended up leaving. However, then Soma had to show up soon after they had left. She could tell her words were agitating him. He had probably returned to his room in a huff knowing him. She was not worried though. Things would be fine tomorrow. He was not the type to let emotions cloud his judgment on a mission.

"Damn it Nee-san how did you do this?" She unzipped the hoodie and tossed it on the couch before she collapsed on her bed. "Did you feel like you were breaking apart inside sometimes when everyone kept asking if you were alright but you were still smiling?"

Of course the hoodie didn't answer her. She shut her eyes and remembered the day Nee-san had given it to her.

* * *

Aria had been eleven at the time. Jun had already put himself at the head of the household with Aria as his second. The two were a great team in keeping the family together without Nee-san around. They both knew Nee-san had enough to worry about with her God Eater duties. Since they were the oldest, they had to step up and becoming adults now.

Touma raced into the house. "Nee-san is back! Nee-san is visting!" The seven year old's eyes were bright as he hopped up and down.

Immediately the younger kids scrambled to their feet and ran outside to welcome Nee-san. Only Jun and Aria were left in the house.

"You think Nee-san feels better this time?" Jun asked quietly.

Aria remembered the last time Nee-san visited. Her eyes had seemed off. They had seemed haunted by something Aria could not see. "She's probably fine. She was just tired last time."

Jun nodded. "You're probably right Aria, you're usually smart about stuff like this."

"Of course I am," Aria puffed out her chest proudly. She got to her feet. "Nee-san probably can't move with all of the kids under feet. I'll help her get in here."

"I'll get her favorite tea ready," said Jun.

Aria's guess was right. Nee-san was only a few feet from the house but the kids were all around her, all asking questions about how she was doing and asked about her time as a God Eater. Aria clapped her hands a few times. "Come on guys, give Nee-san a break. It probably took her a while to get here, don't bombard her with your questions right away. Why don't all of you return to your chores? Nee-san will be here for a while."

Echoes of 'okays' rang up from the children.

"Thanks Aria," said Nee-san.

"No problem," laughed Aria. She ran over to Nee-san's side and hugged the older woman. She frowned. "Nee-san, are you eating? You seem skinnier than when you lived here with us."

"Oh, I'm fine Aria, don't worry about me."

Aria frowned as she stared up into Nee-san's eyes. The haunted look was still there but it looked even worse than before. Maybe she was really stressed out? Aria's eyes flickered to the red and silver armlet on Nee-san's right arm. "Nee-san, I'll help you out one day!"

"Uh what?"

"I'll become a God Eater as well and help you out Nee-san! We can fight together!"

Nee-san chuckled and ruffled Aria's hair. "That's sweet of you but that won't be necessary."

Aria's expression fell. Did she really think Aria would be no good at being a God Eater? Sure it seemed like a scary job but she felt like she could do it!

Nee-san's expression softened. "Aria, I did not mean it like that. You…you would be a good God Eater." She nodded. "Yes, I can see that." She unzipped her hoodie and took it off. "Here, a gift from me for the future God Eater."

Aria's eyes widen to the point of saucers. Nee-san was giving Aria her hoodie? That was one of the first things Nee-san bought with her paycheck. "Nee-san I can't…"

"You will probably put this to better use than me." She shoved the hoodie into Aria's hands. "It's yours now. But be careful, it comes with the responsibility of having to care for your siblings." Nee-san winked.

"I already do that!" Aria clutched the hoodie against her chest. She would take good care of this hoodie and do her best for her siblings! "Oh, Jun is making your favorite tea inside." She grasped Nee-san's hand in her own. It was colder than usual but Aria was just too excited to have Nee-san around again to care. "Come on, come on!"

Nee-san laughed but it didn't have the same 'omph' like it used to. "Alright, alright! I'm coming Aria!"

* * *

True to her word, she had cared for that hoodie. At first, after becoming a God Eater, she had worn the Fenrir uniform. However after her promotion to Captain of the First Unit she felt like she needed any luck she could get. So she pulled out Nee-san's hoodie from the small pack of things she had brought with her from A-2. She had taken the hoodie to Licca who embedded it with oracle cells so it could also be worn in battle.

"And here we are today," she said quietly. She bit her lip as she thought about Shin. "I wasn't able to protect my siblings Nee-san," she whispered. "But I have protected my comrades…that has to count for something…right?"

* * *

The next day, Aria was assigned to a patrol of A-2 along with Fredrico and Annette. The damage done in the area was great. It surprised Aria that the God Eaters were able to keep the Aragami contained in this one area without them spreading out.

"It was a pretty bad fight," admitted Fredrico when Aria asked about it. "Annette and I were to stick with another God Eater at all times."

"I wasn't sure if we were going to make it a few times," sighed Annette. Like always, due to the weight of her hammer she was lagging a few steps behind Fredrico and Aria. "But everyone was fighting with all the strength they could muster. There was no way we could back down."

Aria nodded. She did not want to imagine how bad yesterday's fight was. And yet, here were Fredrico and Annette to help her out with the patrol.

"At least we were able to get a good night's rest," spoke up Fredrico. "Kanon, Gina and Shun were here all night patrolling the area."

"Yeah, that was really rough on them." replied Aria. When the three New-Types had arrived, the three Old-Types had taken the same chopper to return back to the Den. All three of them looked worn out to the point they looked like they were going to fall asleep on their feet.

The three New-Types made it to the Anti-Aragami wall and for the first time Aria got a good look of the hole in the Wall. It was bigger than Aria thought it would be, larger than a Vajra. Thankfully an Ouroboros wouldn't be able to fit in the hole or even a Quadriga.

"I really hope Dr. Sakaki pushes them to get the part done soon," said Annette. "I don't know how long we can do stuff like this…"

"He probably will just threaten them to drink First Love Juice if they don't hurry," replied Aria. Poor Licca.

Aria went closer to the hole and stared at the edges. It looked like there were clean cuts along the edges, like something from a blade. What had caused this? It didn't look like anyone had any idea either. It couldn't have been an Aragami so…what else could it be?

Aria could not think longer on it as she heard a growl come from beyond the Wall. Ogretails were approaching the Wall. She shifted her sword into gun form. "Fredrico, Annette, looks like we have company."

* * *

"So you're with me and Kota for tonight's patrol," informed Lindow as he plopped down next to Soma at the cafeteria table. "I would take a nap before we leave, it's going to be a long night."

"So we're going to have a guy's night out then?" asked Kota from across the table.

"Ugh, I don't want to even know what you will be talking about," said Alisa. "How about we have a girls night tonight?" she asked Sakuya. "Aria should be back by then too."

"Will she even be up for it?" asked Sakuya. "She is going to be patrolling all day."

"She will be okay with it," spoke up Soma. "She isn't the type to say no."

Alisa frowned and looked down at her lunch.

It was a really weird setup Soma had to admit. Usually they did not gather here unless it was dinnertime. And yet here they all were now.

"Was she alright last night?" asked Sakuya. "I heard from Lindow what happened."

Alisa and Kota exchanged glances and then turned to Soma.

"I got nothing either," growled Soma. Did he really expect him to perform a miracle when they couldn't do it?

"She was the same as always," said Kota. "Hey, isn't that the girl from yesterday?"

Soma followed Kota's pointed finger to a girl standing near the elevator. It was the same girl from yesterday, the one that was telling that s.o.b. Jun to calm down. She seemed to looking for something.

"Is she even allowed on this floor?" wondered Alisa.

The girl's eyes settled on the First Unit table and her eyes lit up.

"Whoa guys, I think she was looking for us!"

Lindow reached across the table and lightly whacked Kota's head. "Be nice."

Sakuya sipped her drink slowly but she was keeping an eye on her husband.

"Uh…hello," she said softly when she was close enough to talk.

"Hey," replied Kota lightly.

Soma tugged his hood. What in the world did she want? "Aria isn't here," he said gruffly.

"Oh, I know," she said quickly. "I went up to the top floor and asked the lady behind the counter and she said Aria was out patrolling A-2. I wanted to talk to you guys as you are members of her Unit…is that right?" She looked at Lindow for confirmation.

Lindow crossed his arms and nodded. "I'm technically not a member but you are correct about everyone else. Huh, unlike that brother of yours, you seemed to listen."

Soma glanced at Lindow. What was he talking about? When did he talk to this girl? When everyone else left?

She smiled and then focused on the group. "Umm, my name is Ayame. I'm one of Aria's younger sisters if you don't remember." She looked down at the ground. "Although…it is probably hard for you guys to forget…"

"What happened wasn't your fault Ayame," said Alisa gently.

"But I'm still sorry for how Jun reacted." Ayame bowed low. "I am very sorry for Jun's actions. He is under a lot of stress right now and his dislike of God Eaters is making everything worse."

Soma crossed his arms. He had a sense of déjà vu from his conversation with Aria. Was that the only way they could justify their brother's actions?

"However that still does not excuse his actions," Ayame said. "Jiro and I are trying to keep him out of trouble so he won't cause problems anymore. I'm still really sorry for what happened."

"Really, it's alright Ayame." Sakuya gave the girl a warm smile. "We are sure you are trying your best."

This conversation was seriously too sappy for Soma's taste. He was about to stand to head back to his room when Ayame said, "I…I am also grateful to you guys for taking care of Aria. I know she can be a bit difficult sometimes."

"Difficult might not be the best way to put it," murmured Lindow.

Soma could tell everyone was thinking of the various times she had ran out on her own and taken matters in her own hands.

"Yeah, Aria is a bit difficult like that," Ayame giggled. Her smile slipped away. "Aria had to grow up quickly after Nee-san stopped visiting. Jun was crying all of the time and all."

I cannot picture that at all," put in Kota.

"So Aria kind of had to become in charge of the group. She's really good at tactical stuff and planning and whatnot but she's really bad at revealing her negative emotions to others. Sadness is the worst. I don't think I remember her even crying or ever appearing sad since then."

"Should you really be telling us this?" asked Lindow.

Ayame shrugged. "Probably not but I saw how you two looked when you were taking Aria away yesterday." Her attention was focused on Kota and Alisa. "I can probably guess how she acted after the initial shock wore off. Happy right? Like everything was fine? That's just her way of handling with things. So, that's why I'm apologizing for her. I'm apologizing for us kids who forced her to grow up faster than she should have."

Soma thought back to the conversation from last night. So that was it? She was just not used to telling others how she felt? That just made that stupid smile of hers seem worse. How did she feel inside after that happened?

"But what can we do?" asked Alisa. "I don't think she's just going to open up and tell us how she feels…"

"I saw we give her time and just be there," replied Sakuya. "I'm sure she will open to us in time. It might just take longer for her than the average person."

Soma did not know if that would be the case. If she was able to hide her emotions from her siblings for years how were they supposed to get through to her?

"Hey," spoke up Kota. "Not to get off topic but since you are Aria's sibling…you have to have embarrassing stories about her right? Like how she was like as a kid?"

Ayame blinked slowly and nodded. "Uh yes. I do remember a couple of things."

Lindow kicked one of the chairs back. "Well then take a seat Ayame, I think we would be very interested in hearing them."

* * *

Aria collapsed on her bed. Her feet were aching after trekking around A-2 for hours. She was used to long missions and whatnot but this was a whole different level for her. At least most of it was spent near the huge hole in the Wall, fighting off the Aragami that were trying to come in. When Lindow, Kota and Soma arrived to take over, Aria was kind of weirded out by the way Lindow and Kota were smiling at her. Soma also wouldn't look her in the eye.

She really wanted to ask them about it but at the same time she felt like it would be opening a can of worms so she left it…for now.

"It's probably nothing," she murmured. Although when she had gotten back Alisa and Sakuya seemed really happy to see her. Like Lindow and Kota they had been grinning as well. Apparently they were going to have a girls night but after seeing how exhausted Aria looked they decided it would be best to postpone it for another time.

She pressed her head against her pillow and immediately fell asleep. She didn't know how long she was asleep when she heard a knocking on her door. Groaning, she rolled over to check the time. Four in the morning?

"I'm sorry to wake you," Tsubaki's muffled voice came through the door.

Aria was awake in an instant. Tsubaki had never visited her in the middle of the night before. She scrambled to her feet and opened her door. "What's wrong? Is someone hurt?"

Despite it being the middle of the night Tsubaki looked as prim and proper as she always did. No, that was not accurate. There were dark circles under her eyes. The God Eaters had a difficult job but she had one as well. She had to coordinate everyone.

Tsubaki crossed her arms. "I'm not usually the type to wake a God Eater that came back from the field a couple hours ago but since this is directly related to you I thought it would be best for you to be informed as soon as possible."

Aria narrowed her eyes. What was going on?

"That boy, the brother of yours has gone missing."

Aria's eyes widen. Jun was missing?

"Usually we would not focus our attention on this but since he is your brother and he doesn't seem to like God Eaters that much I thought it would be best to inform you. He's been missing for almost twenty four hours now. Those other siblings of yours thought he was sulking somewhere to cool off but when he didn't return the girl, Ayame, told Hibari, who, after a scan of the building cameras told me that he was not in the Den. Like I said, normally I would not wake you up for something involving a regular human but…"

"He is my brother despite everything," sighed Aria. Seriously Jun. Did he really have to do something stupid at a time like this?

Tsubaki smiled. "Good. I thought I was going to need to give you the he's-your-family speech but it looks like I do not have to do that."

Aria grinned and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't let him punch me this time." She thought it over for a moment. "Can you spare a chopper? I might have an idea of where he had gone."

Tsubaki nodded. "I'll count this as me doing a favor for you."

"I'll repay you back at some point." Aria grabbed her hoodie from the couch and threw it on. Despite only having a few hours of sleep she was ready to go. Maybe it was how deep she slept or how the oracle cells have affected her body. Either way, she would be fine and hopefully this wouldn't take too long.

The chopper trip was very short, only taking her to Tranquil Temple. "I owe you one!" she told the driver.

He gave her a thumbs up and wished her good luck as she jumped out and landed in the soft snow.

"Aria? Can you hear me?" came Tsubaki's voice from the transmitter.

"Yeah," said Aria.

"There's a herd of Vajratails north of your location."

"Got it." Aria shifted her grip on her God Arc before she took off running. She could hear the Vajratails before she saw them and she slowed to a stop and peered around the corner of one of the abandoned houses. Like she thought, there was Jun, at the base of the main temple. He was gripping some white flowers tightly in his hand. His blue eyes darted around nervously at the pack of Vajratails that were slowly closing in on him.

She thought of firing her gun to attract their attention but that would not mean all of the Vajratails would focus on her. Only a couple might with the smarter ones going after the easier prey. No, her best bet would be to jump in the middle of the fray.

"And this is where everyone else would yell at me if they were here." Aria rolled her eyes. It was just some Vajratails. Nothing too major. She backed up a few steps, crouched and jumped. Her hand caught the edge of the roof of the nearest house and she hoisted herself onto it. The roof creaked under her weight but it held. She darted forward and jumped off the other edge with all of her strength as a God Eater.

"Hiyaaaaa!" she yelled as her sword entered transformed a gaping mouth and she devoured the Vajratail closest to her. "Move closer to the inside of the temple!" she ordered Jun before she began swinging.

The beasts were everywhere. She had fought hordes of these guys before but this was different. This group of Vajratails were riled up at the chance of actually being able to eat human prey. They were more vicious than usual. As soon as she took one down another took its place. She did not stop swinging though. There was no chance to rest. She could not retreat to rest. They would just focus on Jun. All she could do was fight. At the moment, that was a-okay with her.

After what seemed like forever, her blade sliced through the last Vajratail. She sucked in a few deep breaths as she stared at the carnage around her. The ones that had been killed in the beginning of the fight were already beginning to disintegrate. Her face and hands felt sticky from the blood. Her clothes, being embedded with oracle cells meant the blood did not stick to it (which made cleaning them so much easier).

Jun was staring at her wide-eyed from the top of the temple steps. "I guessed you wanted to get those for Hana." Aria gestured to the flowers in Jun's hands. "She was always nervous when change happens. You wanted to brew her some tea like I used to. I did teach Ayame how to do it you know. She could have helped."

"We didn't bring any of the herbs with us," Jun replied quietly. "We had to leave them all behind. I heard from some of the workers that this area grew this flower so I went to get some." He stared at the carnage around Aria. "I was not expecting there to be Aragami everywhere…"

"Yeah, once you are no longer behind the Anti-Aragami Wall they tend to be everywhere." Aria hoisted up her sword and rested it on her shoulder. "We do clear them out but since the main focus right now is the hole in A-2, unless it is a high ranked Aragami we are going to leave them alone." She looked around at the bodies around her. "Although it might be a good thing I came out here. There were way more Vajratails gathered here than what would usually be allowed…"

"Aria…why did you come save me?" He looked down at his feet. "I…"

Aria walked up the steps. "You're my brother. Of course the big sister needs to come save her little brother."

"Hey, wait a minute, I thought we all agreed that I'm the older one."

"Not like we know that for sure." She was right next to Jun now. She tightened her hand into a fist and without warning, punched him in the face. She had controlled the amount of force behind it as she did not know how much damage a punch would do to a human but it would still hurt. "Payback for before."

Jun grinned at her as he rubbed his cheek. "No fair. You do know this is totally going to leave a mark right?" He tested his jaw. "I really thought you broke it for a moment."

"I was trying to control the force behind it." Dang, maybe she had swung too hard.

He sighed. "Damn it, you were holding back? Jeez, we can't spare anymore can we? You will just curb stomp me every time."

Aria shrugged. "Yeah, sorry, side effect of oracle cells. Tends to make you a less squishy human."

Jun's expression fell. "But…you are feeling alright?"

Realizing where he was going with this she nodded. "Yeah, I feel fine though. I'm not tired or anything. Well I am the Captain of the First Unit so that tends to make me tired and all but I don't feel like Nee-san probably did…"

"You look much better than she did…"

"I had been thinking of trying to find her file, the Branch has a record of all God Eaters that used to work there. I could have found her if I looked but…"

Jun nodded. "Ignorance might be bliss in this situation right? Probably better for the kids too. They all think she's on a long vacation."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, that might be for the best." She coughed. "Anyway, shall we head back? I would like to catch a couple more hours of sleep."

He winced. "Yeah sure let's-" His eyes widen. He was looking at a spot behind Aria.

Before he could call out a warning, Aria had turned her head slightly in the direction of the danger. She saw something sharp coming towards her. With her free hand she pushed Jun out of the way and then side stepped to avoid the attack herself. However she underestimated the reach as she felt something slice through her leg.

She gritted her teeth against pain as she whirled to face what it was. A Borg Camlann? How did she not sense it coming though? She froze as she stared at the thing that attacked her. That was no Aragami. It was someone, a human in a cloak that covered the person from head to toe. What drew her eye was the huge blue black sword in the human's hand. A buster blade God Arc.

"What the hell are you doing?" snapped Aria. She thought of switching her sword to gun mode but she was still in range of the figure's God Arc. It might be better for her to have access to her shield. She didn't want to move in case the God Eater went after Jun. "Who are you? Which Branch are you from!?"

The mysterious God Eater did not answer. Instead he lifted his sword high in the air. Aria was barely able to put up her shield in time. She gritted her teeth as the weight of the blade pressed down on her. Her injured leg protested and she was aware of the blood trickling down her leg.

"Jun! Get out of here!" she ordered.

"There is no way in hell I'm leaving you here with Crazy."

"As a God Eater I'm saying you need to go." The figure lifted his arc to swing at her again. Aria switched her blade to gun mode and shot a bullet at the figure. The bullet hit the buster blade, making the God Eater back up a few steps.

Aria pointed her gun at the God Eater. "I will not miss at this range," she said coldly.

For a moment she though the God Eater was going to attempt to attack again but instead the God Eater backed up a few steps before running.

"That's right," snapped Jun. "You run, you coward!"

"Jun, please don't provoke him." Aria bent down and rolled up her pant leg to check the damage to her leg. She heard Jun hiss. She had to agree. It was worse than she thought it was. It hurt like hell too. "Don't worry, this'll heal up pretty fast…" She trailed off when she remembered that she had not brought any recovery pills to speed up her oracle cells. "Okay, I lied. This is going to heal slowly until we get back to the Den and then it will heal quickly."

"Shouldn't we do something about it?" Jun asked nervously. "That's a huge gouge out of your leg!"

"That's why I'm happy that God Eater ran away." Aria sat down and grabbed some of the fallen snow and rubbed it against the wound. She winced at the touch of the cold snow. "I'm usually pretty good in a fight but against a buster blade God Arc with an injured leg? Even with being able to use a gun as well as a blade, it was not good odds."

"Here." Jun pulled his knife out of his pocket and handed it to her.

She took it with a silent thanks and used it to cut the fabric of her pants to use it for a makeshift bandage.

"But you have no idea who that was?"

Aria shook her head. "Nope. I didn't recognize the sword either. It's not a God Eater from the Far East Branch, and that's barring the fact that a God Eater attacked us. I swear that does not happen often."

"Somehow I can believe that one." Jun shook his head. "Are you sure you're okay though?" He held out a hand.

"Fine, fine, it's just a scratch." She took his hand and got to her feet. She tested her weight on the leg. It hurt like hell but it was bearable. "I'll call the chopper. We need to head back. I need to inform the others about this."

* * *

Jun followed Aria into the Den. Despite the fact that she had a piece of her leg torn out she insisted on walking by herself. It was nice to see that her tenacity had not changed. Although was it good or bad in the situation, he could not tell.

"There you are. I thought we were going to need to send a search party to go after you." A woman wearing very revealing clothing approached them. He noticed Aria straightened slightly.

"Oh come on Tsubaki, you know me. Nothing can keep me away from this Den for long."

"I know, that's why we need to beg you to use your vacation days."

"Well, well, what's going on here?"

Jun turned and stiffened. It was the man with the weird red arm. Behind him were two guys. One was the guy that comforted Aria when Jun had punched her( which he sorely regretted right now) while the other was the guy that had slammed Jun against the wall for it.

The guy's eyes locked on Jun and his glare intensified.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble," Jun said quietly. He could still picture Aria fighting off those Vajratail. She had looked like a warrior from a fairytale as she fought. He knew she would have retreated to recoup her strength instead of fighting all of those monsters at once. She hadn't though. It was because she knew they would go after him instead. And there was the whole incident with that weird God Eater.

"Well, well, looks like someone has seen the error of his ways," said the red-armed man.

"That's great Aria, you two made up!" The orange haired guy grinned.

"Just took fighting a bunch of Vajratails but hey, that's my style right?" Aria replied with a wide grin.

"Oh man, did she go all demon of the battlefield on them?" he asked Jun.

A demon? Jun thought about it for a moment. "I guess it looked kind of demoninc."

"Oh no, don't you start using that nickname too," groaned Aria. "It's bad enough hearing it from these guys!"

The hooded guy took a few steps towards Aria. "You're bleeding."

Aria looked down at her leg. "Oh man, I guess I opened it again."

"Holy crap," cried the orange haired guy. "Aria, what happened!?"

The hooded one's attention focused back on Jun. "What the hell did you do?" he snapped.

Jun blinked. The venom in this guy's voice was intense! "I…"

"It wasn't Jun," Aria said quickly. She turned to Tsubaki. "That was actually what I was going to tell you. When I was out there I got attacked by a God Eater."

"A God Eater?" Tsubaki repeated.

She nodded. "A buster blade user. Old-Type. Blue-black blade. I didn't recognize it so it is probably an old model that isn't in use anymore. But yeah, the God Eater attacked us. Whoever it was, was wearing a cloak so I don't have exact features but height wise…" She turned to her teammates. "I would say close to Soma's height."

So the name of the hooded guy was Soma. Jun felt so out of place as Aria continued to describe the person to the best of her ability. How did she notice all of this in such a short period of time?

"I will look into this," spoke Tsubaki. "I'll also send out a message to other God Eaters to keep a lookout. A God Eater attacking others is troubling. It's even odder than the God Eater appeared human as well. Lindow, I think you should get to bed, Kota, Soma, you two as well. You were on patrol all night."

"Yeah, I'm all set to hit the hay," yawned Lindow.

Jun noticed the similarities between Lindow and Tsubaki. Were they related?

"Aria, you should get to the sick bay and get that leg looked at."

"Going there now," replied Aria.

"Whoa, hang on a moment," said Lindow quickly. He gestured to Soma. "Hey, you still have some energy right?"

"Uh yeah?"

"Great, why don't you carry our Captain down to the sick bay?"

Soma's eyes widen. "What the hell?" he snapped.

"I'm fine Lindow," Aria protested. "I can make it."

"You're leaving a lot of blood on the floor," Kota pointed out. He put his hands on his hips. "I say you do it. Right Soma? You're willing?"

Soma tugged the top of his hood. "Sure…"he murmured. "I'll do it."

"Now let's not make this a repeat of Aegis Island." Lindow patted Aria's shoulder as he passed her. "Just take up the offer."

Kota yawned and followed Lindow to the elevator.

Soma sighed and bent down. "Here, get on."

Jun did not know why but he could feel his big brother instinct surging up within him as he watched as Aria sighed before she got on his back. Soma stood, adjusting to her weight before he silently began carrying her towards the elevator.

"I'll see you later, okay Jun?" she called back to him.

Jun nodded. "Uh okay." He wanted to get down to the refugee floor when he felt a tugging on the back of his shirt. He looked back to see Tsubaki looking down at him with a very, very scary look on her face.

"Now, don't expect for me to just let you walk away from here scotch free. You are the reason why the best God Eater in this Branch is currently injured and why she was sent out at daybreak without much rest. I can't let you go without giving you some sort of punishment."

Jun gulped. This did not look good. Not at all.

* * *

Aria slid off Soma's back and onto one of the beds in the Sick Bay. "I'm sorry for this Soma," she said. "You really didn't need to carry me all the way here." She wondered if Lindow had some idea of her feelings for Soma. Could that be why he was so insistent of situations such as this? No way, she was really good at keeping her emotions to herself, that was not it at all.

"Don't worry, I don't mind." Soma looked away and tugged on his hood. "You're uh, pretty light."

"Uh, thank you I think?" laughed Aria. She hissed in pain as the doctor unwrapped her makeshift bandage.

"Damn," he whistled. "I never expected to see this kind of injury on you."

"You and me both," replied Aria with a small grin. She saw Soma staring at the injury wide eyed. "It isn't as bad as it looks…right Doctor?"

He nodded. "Yes, it should heal without any problems. I don't even think it will scar." He readied a syringe. "First we'll activate your oracle cells and then begin cleaning the wound. That should help stop the bleeding."

"Fine by me," replied Aria as she held out her arm. "Shouldn't you be going to bed Soma? You were up all night-Ack, is that what I think it is? I'm so sorry Soma, I think I got blood on your coat."

Soma looked down at where she was pointing. "Oh, looks like you did."

"I don't think our clothes were made for getting human blood off of it. Sorry but you might want to soak that right away." Aria would have totally gotten up to do it but the doctor had already begun cleaning her leg.

"Don't worry, it's fine, I'll take care of it," he replied. "But you…"

She lifted her hand. "Please don't give me a don't-be-reckless speech right now."

"I was going to say for you to be more careful. I don't think any of us could predict getting attacked by a God Eater…well one that wasn't like how Lindow was."

Aria stared at Soma. "Wait…did you try to make a joke there?"

Soma looked away, confirming her suspicion. She giggled. "Good attempt. Just work on the delivery next time."

"Shut up."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself. Before you go, I saw Kota and Lindow grinning at me earlier along with Alisa and Sakuya. What was up with that?"

"Your sister, Ayame came to visit us in the cafeteria," he replied.

"Ayame did? For what?"

"She wanted to apologize for Jun. She also told us some stories about you."

"Stories?"

"Like the incident with the cat."

"She what!? Gah!" Aria covered her face in her hands. "My leader image is ruined now! Why did she tell you guys that!?"

"Aria, it's not good to get too riled up when you are healing," reminded the doctor.

Soma shrugged. "That one didn't seem as bad as the one with Hana and the tree."

Aria groaned and fell back on the bed. "You can go now Soma. Let me sit here and cry in woe as my leadership is taken away by bad decisions."

"You are getting as dramatic as Kota." Soma rolled his eyes. Softly he added. "There's no way we would abandon you for that."

"Sure, sure." Aria wiped a fake tear from her eye. "I will just sit here and cry about it."

"I know you would not cry over it," he added before slipping out of the Sick Bay.

Aria stared at door, her brow furrowed. The way he said it bothered her but she couldn't put her finger on exactly why.


	3. Chapter 3

"You seem really happy." Alisa pointed out.

Aria sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Is it really that obvious?" It had been a couple of days since she had rescued Jun. Since then, she had been spending all of her free time down to the refugee area to catch up on all of the things she had missed since becoming a God Eater.

Alisa shook her head. "It's not a bad thing. I'm happy for you."

Why did it seem like everyone had been saying that for the past couple of days? Aria had asked Ayame what she had told everyone since it seemed like it wasn't just stories of the past but Ayame had denied saying anything else.

The two girls turned the corner and came upon the huge hole in the Anti-Aragami Wall. Thankfully it seemed like the Aragami attacks in the area had reduced somewhat. It didn't make much sense though as the hole was still here but Aria wasn't complaining. It made patrolling so much easier.

"Hey, I have a weird theory," spoke up Alisa.

"Go ahead." Aria peered out of the hole but it didn't look like any Aragami were hanging out behind the Wall either.

"What if that God Eater you saw was the cause of the Aragami decrease? There haven't been much Aragami in this area since then..."

Aria nodded. "I'm thinking that as well. It is very weird that the patrols have been going so smoothly recently. However it is still very odd that no one else has actually seen this mysterious God Eater." She looked down at her leg. "Or maybe it is for the better that no one has seen this God Eater…"

"At least we know whoever it is, is still human?" put in Alisa. "Otherwise they would not be using a God Arc."

"True." Aria replied. "Tsubaki told me this morning that she is going to be able to one hundred percent confirm everything by tomorrow. We'll just have to wait until then." She looked up to see a chopper flying overhead. "I think our shift's over. Let's get back Alisa."

"Finally," Alisa sighed. "It's always so dusty here that I feel like I need to take a long shower when I get back…" She gulped. "No offense or anything Aria! I'm sure this was a wonderful place to live before."

Aria laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not offended, it is pretty dusty here."

The girls reached the chopper and bid hello to Brendan and Kanon. With the area being quiet only two God Eaters were being assigned to patrol at one time. After they returned to the Den, the girls split up with Alisa going to take a shower and Aria went down to the warehouse floor.

"Aria's here!" cried Kyo. The eight year old was a new member of the family, being adopted in when his parents had been killed during the Aragami raid.

"Kids, don't crowd around her!" called Ayame.

Aria waded through the children and sat down next to Ayame. Mizuno was handing out the rations for the day to the children. Well, more or less, she was shoving it into their hands as many were focused on Aria.

"Food-wise, you guys are okay?" asked Aria.

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. A couple of the other people here are getting a bit ansty for staying here for so long but Jun has been working hard to help calm them down."

"It's quite shocking," said Jiro. "I never expected him to change his tune so fast."

Aria thought back to how he looked when she had defeated all of those Vajratails. Pure shock. "I think he finally really understood how dangerous this job was," she replied quietly.

"Aria? Can you tell us another story?" asked Kimi.

"Tell us the one when you fought that Nova thing…"

"It's called Arda Nova stupid!"

"I'm not stupid…"

"Don't make Kentaro cry!"

Aria laughed and clapped her hands a few times to draw their attention to her. "Alright, alright, I'll tell the story of how we defeated Arda Nova."

After four and a half stories later, Jun had saved her from telling another by sending the children off to bed with the promise that Aria would come by tomorrow to tell another.

"Thanks Jun," Aria coughed slightly. Her voice had become a bit hoarse from telling so many in such a short period of time.

"The kids need to sleep, it is getting late," put in Jun.

"He just wanted to save you," giggled Ayame.

"Shut up Ayame."

Ayame rolled her eyes. "But how are you doing Aria? How's our home?"

"I swung by our house and it is still there," replied Aria. "A little messy on the inside but it seems pretty intact."

Jun sighed. "That's good. I was not looking forward to the idea of rebuilding."

"What about Aragami?" Mizuno asked quietly.

"Nothing in the area when Alisa and I were on patrol." Aria shrugged. "It's very weird. The scent of humans would still be strong within the A-2 block so I think everyone is a bit weirded out by the lack of Aragami."

"And that Crazy God Eater?"

"Confirmation tomorrow. But Jun, I might not be able to tell you anything. It might be classified to just God Eaters."

Jun shrugged. "At least you'll know something? That's the important part right?"

"Yeah." Aria got to her feet. "Anyway, I would love to hang out and talk and such but I have been neglecting paperwork for the past couple of days. I need to take care of that before it becomes a monster."

"Don't push yourself too hard," instructed Jun. "I know how you get when you are focused on something. I want you to get enough sleep, okay?"

Aria sighed. "Really Jun, I'm fine. I managed to survive a few months without you around to remind me remember?"

"Well I will say I have no idea how you were able to do that," replied Jun. He gave her a light push on the shoulder. "Now go on. The longer we keep you down here, the later you are going to work. So go."

* * *

Soma tossed a few times in bed. He was having an incredibly odd dream.

He was standing in the middle of a wide open field. In front of him was Aria wearing a pure white hoodie. Before her was the Corrosive Hannibal. Soma opened his mouth to yell out a warning but no words would come out.

She did not seem to be worried though. She lifted her hands and hugged the Corrosive Hannibal's neck. Immediately the creature began to dissolve away, leaving behind a small white bird. As if other creatures had witnessed it, other Aragami started appearing. There were many different species, all pure black.

Aria did not stop to think. She touched each other, transforming them into small white birds. Soma noticed that every time she touched one, the darkness from the creature would leech onto her. While the beasts around her were turning white she was turning darker with each creature she helped.

_She needs to stop_…

That thought rose up in Soma's mind. She would be in danger if she continued. Her life would be in danger. He opened his mouth to yell at her to stop but no words would come out of his throat. Growling, he hurried over to her, pushing against the black Aragami that were trying to be purified.

He reached her side and saw the darkness covering her body like a second shell. She turned to look at him and despite the darkness that surrounded her, despite the pain he knew she was feeling, she reached out and grasped his hands with her own.

Soma froze when he realized that his hands were claws. Black Aragami claws. He could see the darkness leeching out from his hands and into hers. He tried to pull away but her grip was tight. She would not let him go without helping him.

_Stop…you need to stop! You're going to die…_

As if she heard his inner thoughts, she looked up into his eyes and gave him a smile before the darkness consumed her.

Soma's eyes shot open and he sat up with a start. He was drenched in sweat. "What the hell?" he growled as he clutched his head. What kind of dream was that? He never had a dream like that before and it pissed him off.

Too riled up to fall back asleep, he got to his feet and grabbed some water from his fridge. He downed half of it before tossing the bottle on the counter. That helped somewhat but there was no way he could fall back asleep right now.

He remembered the smiling expression of the dream Aria and how she had been consumed by the darkness. Although he knew that it was just a dream with no reference to the real world, a part of him really wanted to check on her.

"What the hell is wrong with me? Listening to my dreams now. What's next? Watching Bugarally with Kota?" After he had tossed on his shirt, he stepped out of his room and headed down the hall to hers. It was very quiet since it was the middle of the night. He realized that she was probably asleep and he thought of turning back.

The image of Aria getting devoured by darkness just would not leave his mind though. _She can go back to sleep afterwards_. Reaching her door, he lifted a hand and before he could second guess himself, he rapped his knuckles against it a few times. "It's me," he said.

The door opened a few seconds later. "Hey Soma, what's up?" she asked.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that the bright lights were on in her room with papers strewn around on the table. Obviously she had not been asleep as he thought. The second was that she was not in her hoodie but in a black tank top.

It shocked him for a few seconds. He was so used to seeing her covered up that seeing her without the hoodie was kind of weird.

Her brow furrowed as she took him in. "Is something wrong?" she asked gently. "It's the middle of the night."

"You're still working?" What the hell was he saying? He shook his head. "Never mind."

"Hang on." She reached out and lightly grabbed his arm. Soma realized that this was the first time he had felt her hand touch his skin directly. Usually he would be wearing his blue coat but he didn't grab it when he had left his room.

She smiled. "Why don't you come in for some tea?"

* * *

Aria was shocked when she opened the door to find Soma standing there. He had looked disheveled and nervous, not the kind of expression she expected to see on his face. So, it was that reason that she had invited him into her room to have some tea.

"Sorry for the mess, I was catching up on the reports about Aragami in the area. I've been hanging out with my family way too much that I haven't been reading them like I used to." She handed a mug to Soma before sitting down across from him.

"You should take better care of your health," he scolded. "You might get sick if you stay up late like this."

Aria rolled her eyes. It was probably for the best that she didn't tell Soma that she had done this plenty of times in the past.

He stared down at the cup of tea and then at her.

"Oh, does it taste weird? It's not the stuff that the Den gives us."

Soma shook his head. "No, it's good. Just…surprised."

Aria grinned. "It's an herbal blend I use to calm the kids down when they had nightmares. I was able to get some from the house when I was over there. I gave the rest to Ayame but I kept some for myself." She took a long sip. "It's been a while since I drank this so it is pretty nostalgic."

"You always seem to find some way to surprise me."

Aria stared down at her cup of tea. She didn't want to admit it to herself but the fact that Soma was in her room, in the middle of the night, was very, very awkward. She felt even more weirder because of the fact that neither of them were wearing their coats. Seriously what was wrong with her? Freaking out over exposed arms. Ahhh arms, so scary!

Why couldn't she be more like Alisa and Sakuya? Those two didn't seem to have any problem showing off skin to others.

She shook her head and focused back on the matter at hand. There had to be a reason that Soma had come to her room in the middle of the night. "So what's wrong?" she asked gently.

"You're going to think it is stupid."

Aria wanted to put a hand on his shoulder like she did with Kota or Alisa. However she felt like that would step over an invisible line between the two of them. "I have heard Kota's stories about Bugarally. My younger siblings talk about stuff that only kids care about, I think my bar for stupid is different than yours."

Soma ran his fingers through his disheveled platinum blond hair. "I had a dream," he murmured.

"A dream?" Aria stared at him for a few seconds before she drew her eyes down to the drink. Huh, guess she gave him the right herbal blend after all. Wait a minute. If he was here after having a dream… "A dream about me?" She was happy that there was no tell-tale squeak in her voice. Good. She needed to be the strong captain right now and not a nervous girl with the guy she liked in her room.

Soma groaned. "It sounds so stupid when I hear you say it like that."

"No, I'm not judging you or anything." _Just really surprised_. "A bad dream?"

"Something like that," replied Soma. "You sort of…died at the end."

She opened her mouth and shut it. "Oh." She remembered having those kind of dreams when she had first become Captain. She might have seemed calm and in control to others but in her room she was worried about keeping everyone else alive on missions.

"I know, it's stupid."

"It's not," she said gently. Against her better judgment, she put down her cup and reached out and grasped Soma's free hand with hers. She gently ran her fingers along his knuckles. "The fact that you are in my room right now after having a dream like that tells me that you view me as a comrade."

"Of course I do," he said in surprise. "You're the Captain of the First Unit." He gave her a small smile. "I don't think I would follow anyone else's commands on the battle field. You have a knack for keeping us all alive."

She could feel her cheeks heating up from that smile and stare. She pulled her hands back and picked up her cup to distract herself. "You can be so cruel sometimes," she murmured under her breath.

"What was that?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

They two sat in silence, both sipping away at their drinks. It didn't feel awkward at all, in fact it felt sort of nice. They never did stuff like this. Her eyelids began to feel heavy. She didn't want to admit it to him but she was going to head off to bed when he had knocked on her door. She could hear him talking about she was already too far gone to actually understand what he was saying.

* * *

What the hell was he doing? A couple months ago he would never have come to Aria's room to drink tea in the middle of the night. And yet here he was today, drinking tea in her room.

"Ayame told us something else on that day she told us embarrassing stories of your past," began Soma. "She told us that you were the type to hold everything so no one else could see what you were going through." He thought back to his dream. "So uh…what I want to say is that you can tell me stuff you know. I'll listen…"

He turned to gauge her reaction but what he saw was even weirder. "Are you actually asleep?" No response. No way…she had actually fallen asleep on him? Sitting up too which made it even weirder. He was struck by the fact that he had never seen her asleep before. Sure, he had seen her knocked out when she had been attacked by the Hannibal but that was different than this. Was she really that tired?

Slowly Soma got to his feet and gently pried the cup out of her hands. Thankfully she had rested it in her lap so it had not spilled onto the floor. After cleaning them in the sink he turned back to face her. What was he going to do? She was still sleeping there. It was not like he could just leave her to sleep like that.

He glanced over at her bed and then at her. "Good thing Lindow isn't here," he murmured. Soma had the feeling that Lindow would have something interesting to say about this. After Soma had pulled the blanket back, he returned to her side. The easiest way to get her to the bed would be to carry her in the front and not on his back like he did the past couple of times.

Why did the thought of it make him feel so awkward?

He shook his head. No, he just needed to focus. Slowly, he slipped a hand to support her back while the other he set under her thighs. After a mental count of three, he lifted her up. He felt her stir slightly but she didn't wake.

"You can be a real handful sometimes," he murmured as he turned slowly. "Maybe we need to get you to eat more, you're real light. No wonder you use a short sword in battle." Why was he rambling away like this? What if his talking woke her up right now? Ugh, he didn't want her to wake up at this moment. It was just so…awkward?

Finally, after what felt like eternity, he reached her bed. He gently put her down and pulled the covers up. "Hopefully you will be able to sleep well tonight at least," he murmured as he stared at her sleeping face. He had heard from Lindow that girls looked really cute when they slept. Sakuya had turned red and then kicked him for it.

Maybe Lindow was right about something. Aria looked kinda…cute asleep.

What the hell was he thinking?

He quickly turned and headed for the door. It was really late. That had to be the reason he was having weird thoughts.

* * *

The next morning, Aria joined the rest of the First Unit in the executive office. Dr. Sakaki was sitting behind the desk and Tsubaki stood in front of it. She gave Soma small smile when she entered but he would not look at her. She mentally shrugged at that.

She had woken up in her bed after falling asleep on Soma. Obviously he had put her in her bed. He was probably embarrassed about having to do something like that. She on the other hand wished she was awake when he did that. It was very sweet of him to do that before leaving (although she would never tell him that).

"Okay, you're all here," said Tsubaki. "I guess we'll start."

Dr. Sakaki rested his elbows on the desk and leaned forward. "From this day on the First Unit will be removed from protecting the A-2 area until further notice."

"Other than your normal extermination duties, there is the matter of this God Eater Aria faced."

"So we finally know who it is?" asked Lindow. "Took you long enough Sis."

Tsubaki silenced Lindow with a glare. "I had to confirm a few things. This was a highly sensitive matter and I needed to be sure."

"Is it really that bad?" Kota asked.

Tsubaki nodded. "The God Eater that had attacked Aria is named Maria Yamada. She was a God Eater assigned to this branch eight years ago. She has worked here at the branch for two years."

"I think I remember her," said Sakuya. "Very faintly though."

"Why was she only at the branch for two years?" asked Alisa. "And why did she attack Aria?"

"I'm getting to that."

"The bias factor at the time was not as refined as it is today," spoke up Dr. Sakaki. "Unfortunately there were side effects in Maria Yamada, causing her to be mentally unstable as a result. She was transferred to a mental hospital and has been there for the past six years."

"It seems like the hospital wanted to keep it hush hush but she escaped from the facility along with her God Arc about two weeks ago."

"I also hypothesize that she's the reason for the hole in A-2. The cuts to the Wall seemed too smooth for a random occurrence so all that was left was a God Arc," put in Dr. Sakaki. "For that reason, despite the replacement piece for the Wall being almost finished, we do not want to put it in until Maria Yamada has been taken care of in case she attacks the Wall again."

"How do we know she is even still in the area?" asked Aria. "No one has reported her in."

"She is actually from this region so we assume that any part of her rational mind that is still active is trying to go back to places she knows. Plus the other branches haven't reported anything so we assume she is still here."

"I was hiding under your noses for a long time too," Lindow pointed out. "It's easy to stay out of sight around here."

"So be on the lookout for her when you are out on your missions but be careful. She is mentally unstable so she is unable to tell friend from foe." She turned to Aria. "I sent you the detailed files on the case so you can review it later. For the rest of you, I have given you access to the basic information."

"Got it," said Aria.

"Oh right, before you go…" Dr. Sakaki typed away on the computer in front of him for a few moments before he turned the screen around. "This is what Maria looked like in the last picture that was taken of her when she was in the hospital."

Aria's blood turned cold. No way. She could feel her emotions start bubbling up. She grabbed them and shoved them back into a corner of herself. No, she could not react. She could not have that kind of reaction.

"Got it," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I'll return to my room and look over the detailed files. I'm not on a mission right?"

Tsubaki shook her head. "No."

"Got it." Aria saw Soma watching her but she ignored him as she hurried back to her room. Usually she would take the elevator with everyone else but this time she took the stairs. It was faster and she didn't want to have to deal with anyone else right now.

Reaching her room, she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. She crumpled to the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. "Nee-san…" she whispered.

* * *

Soma knew something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong with her.

He watched Aria talk to Hibari from the couch on the elevated part of the floor. She had seemed agitated after Dr. Sakaki showed the picture of what Maria looked like. Soma didn't see anything weird about it. Sure, the girl looked a bit out there but she was in a mental hospital. Dark red hair that reached her midback and out there green eyes. Soma had looked through the files when he had returned to his room but there was nothing weird in them.

"You know, if you keep staring at her like that, someone's going to figure it out."

Soma jerked back and glared up at Lindow. The God Eater sat down next to Soma. "Seriously, can you hurry up and figure it out already?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Lindow shook his head. "Maybe it is because I didn't get to watch the progression that is so obvious to me. Honestly, it is so painful watching this sometimes."

"What the hell are you going on about?" growled Soma.

Lindow shrugged. "I don't know, you tell me."

Soma wanted to strangle Lindow.

"Oh hey Lindow," said Aria. She nodded to Soma. "The mission was fine?"

"Yeah," replied Lindow. "How's strategizing going on your end? Figure out ways to stop Maria?"

"Kind of," she replied.

Was Soma imagining it or did she look really uncomfortable right now?

"Anyway, I'm going to go check on Jun and the others. See you guys later."

Lindow waved goodbye before focusing back on Soma. "You are worried about her right?"

Soma winced. What the hell was Lindow getting at?

"I don't blame you, she is acting a little weird right now." Lindow tapped his claws on the table. It made a really disturbing sound to Soma.

Where was he going with this? Lindow was staring at Soma expectantly. Lindow sighed in disappointment. "Look, I heard about what happened with Shio and all so I can understand why you are a little slow on the uptake but still. I really think Kota would have understood better than you do."

What the hell? Soma opened his mouth to protest but Lindow was already on his feet. "Just think it over a bit alright?" he said.

* * *

"Aria? Are you listening?"

Aria blinked and focused on Ayame's concerned face. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been a little out of it since yesterday. Is everything alright?"

How could she tell Ayame that Nee-san was a crazy God Eater that had tried to kill Aria before? Aria had scanned through the files Tsubaki had sent her. It was mostly just detailed medical files along with all of the records of her battle accomplishments. There was nothing in them that truly gave a reason for Nee-san's decline. It was hypothesized that it was caused by her not being one hundred percent compatible with the bias factor but it was unknown if that was truly the cause.

"Maybe you should rest while you can," said Jun. "You really do seem more tired out than you did before."

"You don't need to visit us!" put in Kimi. "We can take care of ourselves."

Aria patted the younger girl on the head. "I know you can. Why don't you go play with the other kids?"

Kimi nodded and scrambled off of Aria's lap.

Aria watched her go before she focused on her older siblings. "What if…what if one of us saw Nee-san again…what would you do?"

"If we saw Nee-san again?" Ayame thought it over. "I don't know…hug her?"

"I would want to know where she went," said Jiro.

"I would punch her for leaving us alone for so long," grumbled Jun. "But then I guess I would hug her…she was-is our older sister after all. Why'd you ask such a thing Aria?"

Aria shook her head. "I'm just curious, it's nothing. Just a thought I had." She got to her feet. "Sorry I can't stay long guys, God Eater business to take care of."

"Oh, before you go, I heard the piece of the Wall was almost complete, is it true?" asked Jun.

Aria nodded. "Yeah. Soon you guys will be able to go home." She grinned. "I know you will be happy to get away from us smelly God Eaters."

"Oh you bet," laughed Jun.

Aria managed to keep it together until she got to the elevator. As the doors closed she leaned her head against the wall. What the hell was she going to do? "Did you not continue to attack because you recognized me Nee-san?" She bit her lip. What was she going to do? The files stated that Maria was so de-attached from reality that she could not function in the real world. In other words, it was almost impossible to bring her in alive.

"Could I actually do it?" she whispered. Nee-san was the one that had took in all of the orphaned children into her house. She didn't have to do it but she saved them all. "Can I save you Nee-san?" she whispered. She clutched the hem of her hoodie. "You would want me to be strong about this…right Nee-san?"

The elevator slowed to a stop. Aria stood and sucked in a few deep breaths to get her emotions under control as the doors opened on the main floor. She walked out and headed down to where Hibari was. "Did it work?"

Hibari looked up and nodded. "I was just about to call you. Your idea was correct. I have found an armlet signal at the northern area of the Tranquil Temple. It was faint so I would have overlooked it otherwise. I'm surprised that you were able to figure out Maria's location so quickly."

"Lucky guess," replied Aria.

"Shall I call a meeting of the First Unit? You will be able to take care of it right away."

Aria shook her head. "No, wait an hour. Lindow, Alisa and Kota were on just on a mission, I want everyone to be at full strength when we fight her. She is very unstable but still a strong God Eater."

"But what if she moves locations?" asked Hibari.

"It should be fine. I estimate she won't move from now until then. Thanks Hibari and remember, an hour." Aria walked away. She didn't know if Hibari would listen to her suggestion. She hoped so. This would give her an hour to take care of everything. Hopefully that would be enough.

* * *

_"All members of the First Unit, report to the bridge at once!_"

Hibari's voice echoed over the intercom system. Soma jumped off his bed and threw on his coat. Did they find Maria? Why else would the First Unit be called though? When he reached the bridge, he saw all of the other members of the First Unit minus Aria.

"Okay, this is starting to seem very familiar," commented Kota.

Hibari frowned and typed away on her computer. She stopped and stared at the screen. "Uh, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki groaned. "Don't tell me she has gone to take care of Maria by herself?"

"Unfortunately it has seems so. I have pinpointed her location to the Tranquil Temple."

"Seriously, what is up with her and doing everything herself?" sighed Alisa.

"What I don't get is why she went to fight Maria alone," put in Sakuya. "There is no point to it. It's not like she knew Maria…"

An idea sparked in Soma's head. "Tsubaki…how many years ago was Maria part of this branch?"

"Eight," replied Tsubaki. "Why?"

"Can you pull a picture up of Maria on your screen?" he asked Hibari. "I'll be right back." He thought back to how agitated she looked after she had seen Maria's picture. How for the past day she seemed very distant from everyone else. Normally he would never have noticed it. Hell, it took him a few weeks to realize how distant she was during the Ren case. Why did it take him so much less time this time to do so? Why was he paying so much attention to her in the first place?

No time to be thinking about that.

He got off the elevator on the refugee floor. It took him a few moments to locate the small camp made up of Aria's siblings. Jun backed up a few steps as Soma approached.

"You're…Soma right?" spoke up Ayame. "I remember you."

"I need you to come with me," he said gruffly.

"Hey!" snapped Jun. "What the hell is going on?"

Soma glared at Jun. "It involves Aria. I need her to confirm something."

Jun shut his mouth and looked away.

"It's fine Jun," Ayame said gently. To Soma, "I knew something was wrong. She said something odd to us too."

Damn it. Was his suspicion right? He took Ayame up to the bridge floor and brought her over to where Hibari and the others waited.

"What's Ayame doing here?" wondered Sakuya.

"Hibari, show her the picture of Maria."

Just like Soma thought, the girl's eyes widen in shock at the picture. "But…that's…Nee-san…"

A collective groan went up in the group.

"Should have guessed," sighed Sakuya. "What else could it have been?"

"I can't believe none of us figured this out," sighed Lindow. "The timing was just right too."

"What…what's going on?" asked Ayame. "What happened with Nee-san? What's Aria doing?"

"That girl…" Tsubaki shook her head. "I'll need to give her a stern talking to when she gets back here."

"I knew this is a personal fight but are we really going to let her fight alone?" asked Kota.

"Wait, Aria is fighting Maria?" gasped Ayame. The poor girl was still very lost to what was going on.

"There is no way we can do that," protested Alisa. "She fought against Lindow to spare our feelings. We can't let her go through this fight alone…"

Lindow crossed his arms. "Yes…we can't let her fight alone." He turned to Soma. "Go after her right now, the rest of us will join up in another hour if you don't respond."

What the hell was up with Lindow at a time like this? "Hang on, why only me?" He didn't know a thing about Maria other than she apparently raised Aria. What was he supposed to do?

"Lindow, really," spoke up Sakuya.

Lindow shook his head stubbornly. "No, I think this is a good idea. Trust me on this one Sakuya."

"I…I agree."

Everyone turned to Ayame. They had forgotten that the girl was even there. She was staring at Soma with an odd look on her face. "Yes, it will be fine. Soma should go. Only him." She focused on the group. "I don't know the situation that well but I know Aria. I know Nee-san. Aria will fight with everything she has. If something has happened with Nee-san…I know she would want Aria to take care of her. Aria would do it. She's strong like that…or appears to be strong like that." She smiled at Soma. "She's told us about you guys, about the missions you went on and what not. I think I finally understand the dynamics. I agree with Lindow. Please go Soma. Not to fight Maria but to be there for her…please."

What the heck was Ayame talking about? He turned to the group but the rest of the First Unit seemed to understand something that Soma didn't.

Alisa sighed. "Alright. You get one hour, make sure she comes back alive."

Tsubaki nodded. "As an order for me, Soma Schicksal go after First Unit Captain Aria and make sure she returns safe and sound."

Soma nodded. He might not truly understand what everyone had been talking about but that order he could follow. He would go and return with Aria.

* * *

Aria sucked in a few deep breaths as she lowered her sword. "Nee-san…nee-san you need to stop," she begged.

Maria's expression did not change as she lifted her buster blade and tried to strike Aria again. Aria dodged left to avoid the sword and swung her own. The cloak that Maria wore to cover herself was torn apart in the various places where Aria had struck her. Thankfully Maria had not been able to land a hit but Aria did not know if it was because the weight of the sword or was a part of Maria still in there.

"I know you wanted to go home," Aria said gently. "That's why you made a hole in the Anti-Aragami Wall near A-2. You wanted to go home. You didn't expect the Aragami attack so you fled here."

She dodged another sword swing from Maria. "You told me about this place remember? You mentioned how you liked the temple here because it was so quiet. No God Eaters were here because we were all defending A-2 so you were left alone, at least until Jun and I came here."

Maria let out a guttural cry before swinging her sword again.

"I wish we knew Nee-san!" cried Aria as she attacked the sword swing head on. She deflected the swing before striking out with her own. She was too far away to do any real damage to Maria. "Jun and I thought was something was weird with the way you were acting, we could feel something was wrong, we just couldn't figure it out though! And then you vanished from our lives when in fact you had lost your grip on reality."

Maria screamed and swung her God Arc.

"Self-preservation only," Aria whispered as she blocked that swing as well. "That's all the file said. All you know now, due to the oracle cells and your God Arc's will, you just want to live, that's it. Your mind is gone…the Nee-san I know is gone."

Again Aria blocked the swing. "I knew the others would want to fight by my side. I know they would want to share this burden with me but…I can't Nee-san. I'm sorry if I'm a selfish child but I have to take care of you myself, for the sake of all of the children you have raised. It has to be me."

Maria swung her blade harder than before. Aria yelped as the weight slammed her to the ground. Aria scrambled back to her feet to see Maria running. "Nee-san!"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Aria stared in shock as Soma stepped out from behind one of the buildings. His white God Arc matched the snow below. What was he doing here? He swung his blade in Maria's direction. Maria growled and tried to strike him with her blade but he blocked and pushed her back towards Aria.

"Everyone is pissed off at you right now for going off without us again," he said.

Aria wanted to ask what he was doing here but Maria was now like a cornered rat. She was wildly swinging her sword around and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"She's going to attract Aragami," growled Soma.

"Nee-san…please, you need to stop," begged Aria. "Please, for the sake of Jun and the others, please…"

No sign of recognition from Maria. With Soma here, she could feel her leadership role sinking back into her. She knew what she had to do. She could not hesitate. It would mean both of their deaths if Maria attracted Aragami with her voice.

Aria transformed her God Arc to gun mode. "Nee-san, everyone else can't go home. You might break the Wall again so they can't go home unless you are not a problem."

Maria's crazed eyes focused on her. She swung. Aria fired a shot at the blade, knocking Maria off balance. She raced towards Nee-san, her gun turning back into a sword.

Aria swung.

She never knew how easy it was to cut through a human's body with a God Arc. It wasn't like cutting through an Aragami at all. It was much easier, much cleaner.

Aria numbly stared down at Maria's limp form. She took a few shaky breathes. The mission was over. She had done it by herself. She was fine. She was a God Eater. She was completely fine. She was strong. She was fine.

"Let it out Aria," he said gently. "Your sister, Ayame, she told us about it. How you have to hold your emotions so no one knows when you are sad or upset. Just let it out. I won't tell." He turned his back to her. "Go ahead."

She heard something weird. It was an odd sound. It reminded her of the sobbing Alisa did when she cried. It hit her a moment later where the sound was actually coming from. Aria crumpled to the ground in front of Nee-san's body as the tears that she had kept locked away for six years finally spilled out. She could not stop the weird sobbing noises she made as she cried. It just came out along with the tears.

* * *

Like a silent protector, Soma just stood there, with his back to her, watching the surroundings to make sure nothing approached. He could hear her screaming and crying behind him but he did not want to turn to look at her. What if she stopped letting it out if she realized he was watching her?

He stared down at his hand and gritted his teeth. He didn't know why each sob she let out pierced him like a small dagger. He looked up at the moon overhead. Was Shio up there, watching them right now? What would Shio say in a time like this?

Odd, he realized. Usually when he looked up at the moon, he felt a sense of sadness hit him. Not this time though. Yes, a part of him was sad about Shio leaving but it wasn't as strong as before.

_"You're so silly Soma, you found something much more tastier than Shio was."_

Soma stared at his sword. He didn't know if the words came from what he thought Shio would say or it was from the part of Shio that rested in his sword and she was speaking to him. Something tastier than Shio huh?

He took a deep breath and turned to look at her. She was crumpled on the ground, her arms wrapped around herself. To say it nicely, she looked like a mess. Her face was red, her eyes puffy from crying. She was shaking as those weird sobs kept escaping her throat.

He knelt next to her. She looked up at him with lost eyes. "S….S….S…Soma…" she managed to choke out. She rubbed her eyes to try to stop the tears from coming out.

"Stop it." He pulled her hands away from her face. "Keep crying. You need to let it out."

She shook her head. "N..."

He didn't let her finish as he put down his sword and pulled her to his chest. "Keep crying. I won't let you go till you're done."

Her sobs got louder and she body shook as she cried until there was nothing left.

* * *

"You mean we can't stay here?" whined Kimi. "I want to hang out with the God Eaters! They're so cool!"

"But you guys get to go home," Kota pointed out. "No need to spend all of your time stuck down here in a boring room of the Den."

Soma watched as a couple of the children started claiming reasons why Kota was dead wrong with his assumptions. Nearby Alisa was being helped with learning the names of all of the children by Jiro.

"So the one with dark hair is Ken, the one with the ponytail is Aiko…"

Lindow was letting a few children touch his red arm. A little girl poked it and recoiled back in surprise as Lindow tried grabbing her with it.

"Stop it, don't scare them!" scolded Sakuya as she hit her husband's arm.

Aria was sitting in the middle with one of the smaller children in her lap. She was telling a couple of them a story of a mission. She no longer wore her brown hoodie. She had told him (as well as everyone else) that since it was a memento of Maria, it was too painful for her to wear. Now she tended to wear a tank top in battle instead. She said it didn't restrict her movement as much but all Soma could think of was that her arms were exposed and that was ignoring the fact that he saw way more of the top of her chest than he was used to.

After the Maria incident, the work on the Wall had gone by much faster and now the Wall piece was complete. It was going to be installed tonight with the people from A-2 being able to return in the morning. Aria had wanted to spend the final night with them and she invited everyone else from the First Unit to join her. She had invited the Second and Third Unit but those two Units were on guard duty for the night while the Wall were being fixed. The First Unit would be called in if things got too out of hand for the other Units to handle.

He silently watched as Aria continued to tell the story to the young children. Ever since the Maria case he noticed she seemed more open with him. Hell, she seemed more open with the First Unit. When the two of them had returned, Tsubaki looked like she was going to yell but held back as Aria looked like she was going to cry again.

There was a tenderness now to her, he realized.

"This is getting so old."

Soma glanced over at Ayame. The girl was staring at him with her hands on her hips. "What?" asked Soma. Was she going to yell at him because he wasn't like everyone else and cooing and talking to these kids? He had only come down here because everyone else was going to be here. He did not want to deal with children.

Ayame let out another sigh. "Nothing is going to happen, is it?" She turned her back to Soma. "Hey Aria!"

Aria looked up. "What's up Ayame?"

Ayame looked back at Soma. He stepped away from the wall, his danger instincts going off at full blast. What was this girl going to do?

Ayame turned back to Aria. "Can you and Soma hurry up and start dating? It's really painful to watch and I suspect that everyone here is just waiting for it to happen so can you both please put everyone else out of their misery?"

It was dead silent. Soma could feel his face burning and he tugged the top of his hood down. "What the hell?" he grumbled.

"A…Ayame! Really!?" cried Aria. "That was uncalled for! Seriously Soma, don't listen to her, she says crazy things."

"I'm leaving," grumbled Soma, turning away. He headed for the elevator, painfully aware of the staring on his back. He pushed the button to call it to him. Damn it, what the hell was up with Ayame? Why did she say something like that!? Dating Aria of all people? Hell, dating anyone was something he never thought about doing. He had been always called a monster, he never could think of thoughts like that.

However things had changed when she had appeared. She had helped change the views of the people around him. She had always been by his side, fighting with him no matter what. He remembered her face as she slept soundly, when she had broken down, her Captain face. Everything, he remembered everything about her.

"Damn it, damn it," he growled. The elevator was almost here.

He whirled around and hurried back over to the group.

"Seriously Ayame, you can't say stuff like that!" Aria scolded. She broke off as Soma approached.

He walked over to her side and grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet. "Come on."

"Awww, Soma is kidnapping her, how cute."

Soma glared at Lindow. He finally understood what Lindow had been talking about that day and it pissed him off that Lindow had figured it out a lot earlier than he had.

"Come on kids, let's cheer them on," put in Alisa. "Let's clap."

Kota joined in the clapping.

Soma hated these guys. "Let's get out of here." He focused his attention on the ground as he pulled Aria along with him. She didn't protest or fight as he led her in the elevator and took her up to their living quarters floor.

Realizing he was still holding her arm, he released her. "Oh, sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied quickly. "But yeah…Ayame's statement…a bit inappropriate there. I'll talk to her about it. Pull rank. I know that was probably very uncomfortable for you."

Soma stared at her and realized that Ayame was right. Nothing would happen. It would taken him much longer to figure it out and even then would he actually act on it? He could not say. All he could say was what he would do right now.

"What…" he began.

She stopped talking and looked up at him expectantly. "What?" she prompted.

"What if Ayame was right?" Damn it. He rubbed the back of his neck. He would rather face a pack of Vajras right now than be in this situation.

"If Ayame was right?" whispered Aria. Her magenta eyes seemed to have more of a pink look to them today. "Soma…you're saying…"

"I don't know much about this kind of stuff," he mumbled. "But I think it would be easy to learn…or something like that." Wasn't this kind of moment supposed to be filled with fireworks or something? Damn, he felt like he said the whole thing wrong.

"Soma, I'm sorry…"

Damn it. Did he just make a fool of himself? What the hell was he doing, actually confessing his feelings to her when he didn't know how she felt about this? What if she just went along to be nice? She was the type to do that so he wouldn't lose face in public.

"But give me a moment to process this correctly."

What kind of reaction was that? He stared at her. She had a wide grin on her face. It actually looked a bit creepy. "Uh Aria?"

"Ilikeyoutoo."

Soma stared at her. "Sorry?" Her words sounded jumbled together. He didn't understand a word she had said. He sighed. "Aria, you don't need to push yourself if you don't…"

He jumped slightly as she reached out and grasped his hands in her own. That creepy grin on her face was not helping situations much. "Sorry," she replied. She took a few deep breaths and looked up at him. "I like you too," she replied. "I've liked you for a long time actually."

Wait what? He stared at her. "What do you mean by a long time?" He could feel his face heating up by the way she was staring at him.

She gently ran her thumbs along his knuckles. She lowered her head. "I can't tell you exactly but I guess it happened after Shio joined us."

That long? "You have liked me for that long?" he whispered.

"Don't say it like that now," she laughed. "You're making me sound sad and desperate." She released his hands and grinned at him. "As your Leader, I give you permission to date me."

"Is that right?" Soma chuckled.

"You know that now you're going to have to win Jun over. I don't think pinning him to a wall did any good for his impression of you."

"He'll live with it," grumbled Soma. He jumped as Aria slipped her hand into his.

It was a foreign feeling but nice. He gripped her hand tighter. "I…I'll try my best and stuff…" Maybe he should have paid attention to the various advice Lindow had given out over the years of what one did with a girl.

She giggled. "Don't worry, I think you'll get the hang of this thing soon enough. You want to have some tea? I have some leftover herbs in my room from last time."

"Sure, but don't you go falling asleep on me this time."

"Hey now! I was tired alright!"


	4. Chapter 4-Extra Chapter

**Just a quick chapter that takes place directly after the events of Resurrection. Just something short and sweet to tide things over until Rage Burst comes out and a chance for me to write about Aria again. **

* * *

Aria had no idea what was going on between her and Soma.

Soon after they had officially gotten together (Lindow's language) the incident with the Arius Nova happened. Pretty much their relationship had been put on hold as soon as it had begun. Soma was focused more on the cleanup of the Arda Nova fragments as he had fallen behind after both the Lindow and Maria cases. And then everything else got thrown into the mess. With all of the stuff that had been going on, their relationship seemed to have defaulted back to how it was before he had confessed to her in the living quarters.

However, now that the Arius Nova was dead, things had returned to normal in the Den. Well, as normal as it could get with the threat of Aragami every day.

So she did the only thing she could do to figure out how to solve this issue. She went to see Sakuya. Or, a better way of putting it, she attempted to see Sakuya. For some reason Sakuya was not in her room.

"She's not on a mission right?" Aria frowned and thought it over. Nope. She wasn't. Lindow was going to be leaving soon on a mission for Dr. Sakaki so Aria wanted both of them to have some time alone time together before he left for who knows how long.

She sighed and went downstairs to see if Alisa was in her room. The two of them had been on a mission earlier in the day but Alisa had hurried off as soon as the helicopter had touched the ground of the Den.

Nope. Alisa was not in her room either. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see Kota leaving his room with a box in hand.

"Hey Kota, you need help there?"

Kota froze and stared at Aria. "Whoa! What are you doing there!? Wait. Why are you here!?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh…what?"

"Just…hang on one moment!" Kota darted back into his room.

He didn't come out for a while. Frowning, she went over and knocked on his door. "Kota? Everything okay in there?"

"Fine!" came Kota's muffled voice through the door. "Everything is fine! You stay out there okay!"

Now Aria was really curious. "Kota! I'm going to come-"

"First Unit Captain Aria, please come to the main floor!" Hibari's voice echoed over the intercom.

Aria forgot all about Kota's weird behavior. "I need to go Kota."

"Uh yeah! You go get 'em!"

"Going to need to ask him about that later…" Reaching the main floor, she hurried over to Hibari's station. Much to her surprise Soma was there as well.

"Hey Aria. There's an Amaterasu in the Forgotten Carrier. Can you and Soma take care of it?" Hibari did not look up from her computer screen.

"Yeah sure." She grinned at Soma. "I think the two of us would be able to handle this!"

"Uh yeah." Soma tugged his hood down.

* * *

Aria wondered if she had done something wrong in the past couple of days. The helicopter flight was silent. Whenever she tried to begin a conversation with Soma, he would only respond in one word answers.

Things got even weirder when they reached the Forgotten Carrier.

"You think the outriders were wrong?" Aria did not see any sign of an Amaterau anywhere.

"Probably not," replied Soma. He walked a few steps ahead of her. When she tried to speed up to walk next to him, he would just increase his gait.

She touched her earpiece. "Hey Hibari, are you sure there's an Amaterasu here?"

"I think so! Keep looking. It might be hiding behind something!" chirped Hibari's happy voice.

Hiding behind something? There was not really any place to hide around here! Maybe it was hiding in that big crater in the middle of the roadway? She slowly approached it and peered in. Nothing.

"You have any ideas where this thing could be?" she asked.

Soma shrugged. "Not really? Hibari isn't usually wrong though…"

"Yeah, that's true." She rested her god arc on her shoulder. "Hey, did I do something to annoy you?"

"Annoy?" He had been walking towards the mountain of asphalt in the back of the area but at her words, he turned to look at her. "Aria, you haven't annoyed me in anyway."

She frowned. "Really Soma? Cause I doubt that. You've refused to talk to me during this whole mission." Could it even be called a mission at this point? They haven't even found one Aragami to fight.

"No! It's nothing about you! It's just…" He trailed off and looked away from her.

"Just what? What is it? Come on, you can spit it out Soma!" She froze as she realized something. She looked down at her feet. Logically it did make sense. It could explain why he had been treating her like he always had even after the Arius Nova incident had passed. Maybe it was those fragments of Shio. Maybe they reminded Soma of what it was like back then…

"Aria?" Soma looked at her in concern.

Was she overthinking this? She wasn't sure. Ugh. Aragami battle strategies were easier to figure out compared to this.

She scratched the back of her head. Normally she might keep these thoughts to herself but Soma was involved and she really did not want to force him to do anything he didn't want to do. "If…if you want to break it off Soma then it's fine, really. I understand."

His eyes widen. "Wait what?"

Why did he seem so confused about this? "I mean, I know we got together and all but then Arius Nova happened and we had other stuff to focus on but Shio was involved and well I know how much you cared for her and our relationship hadn't developed at all so…"

Soma seemed to get more and more confused as she kept talking. "Aria…really, what are you talking about? Do…do you want to break up?"

Did he seem hurt by that? Now she wondered if her line of thinking was even correct. "Well, I don't want to but do you want to?"

"No! Of course not!" He walked back over to her, his blue eyes had a hint of panic to them. "Why would you think that?"

Aria wanted to tear out her hair. This was ten times more complicated than fighting Aragami. "But then why have you been avoiding talking to me all day today!?"

"That's…" He growled under his breath. "Damn you Kota."

She raised an eyebrow. "What does Kota have to do with this?"

"He has everything to do with this!" snapped Soma. He let out a long sigh. "Just…trust me alright? I'm not mad at you or anything. I…I still want to date you…" He mumbled out the last part without looking her in the eye. Unlike the previous times, he had avoided looking her in the eye, this time he looked embarrassed.

She could feel her own cheeks heating up and she looked away. "Oh…well that's good."

"Hang on, are you actually embarrassed right now?"

"Be quiet, I can get embarrassed too you know!" Aria ran her fingers through her hair. She giggled. "Well this is awkward now."

"Yeah. Where's an Aragami when you need one?" chuckled Soma.

"I don't think any Aragami deserves the kind of punishment we would give it right now," she laughed. "Although speaking of Aragami, where in the world is that Amaterasu? I really don't think that it's here."

She noticed that Soma seemed to be listening to someone over his ear piece. She frowned and pulled hers out to check on it. It seemed to be working fine.

"Was that Hibari?" she asked when it looked like Soma was done. "Mine's malfunctioning I think."

"Yeah. We need to get going. The Amaterasu…moved."

"It moved?"

Soma nodded. "Yeah, we're going to the Tranquil Temple."

* * *

Reaching the temple, Aria saw no signs of the Amaterasu anywhere. Those things were huge. There was no way one could travel around without leaving evidence behind.

"I really don't think there is an Amaterasu here…" She startled as Soma grasped her hand.

"C…come on. This way."

"Soma, what's going on?" She tried to pull her hand out of his but he just gripped her hand tighter. "We shouldn't walk like this if we're on a hunt. It's not like it's a date or something."

Soma almost tripped over his own feet. "Damn it. I'm going to strangle you Kota," he growled under his breath.

Again with Kota? "Soma, really. What is going-"

They turned a corner and Aria was hit with a barrage of "surprise!" and poppers going off.

"What?" It took her a couple moments to take in the spread in front of her. Everyone from the First Unit was here along with Dr. Sakaki, Tsubaki and Lindow. There was a huge blanket spread out on the ground, piled high with foods and drinks.

"Took you long enough to get here!" Lindow held up a can of beer.

"What…what is going on?" Aria stared at Soma. He had released her hand and walked over to the pile of food.

"We're having the moon viewing party that we were supposed to a while back!" said Dr. Sakaki.

"That's a part of it." Alisa stood and guided Aria over to an open spot on the blanket. Everyone's god arcs were lying on the ground in reaching distance and Aria followed suit with her own. "Ayame also contacted us a couple days ago."

"She did? What did she say?" Aria asked in surprise.

Soma pulled something out of the basket and held it out to her. "Happy birthday Aria," he said.

She looked down at the cake in surprise. "Oh," she whispered.

"I decorated it!" Kota puffed out his chest proudly. "It's you fighting the final villain of season four of Bugarally! I thought it was quite fitting!"

Oh, so that's what the squiggly lines were. "It's great Kota. Wait. When I came by earlier in the day and you had that box?"

"Yeah, you scared me. Didn't want you to know about the surprise beforehand. Ended up roping Hibari in to make it a surprise."

Oh. Now things made sense. She smiled at Soma. "You know, you are really bad at lying, you know that?"

"Shut up," he mumbled.

Sakuya laughed. "He was the only one still around so it wasn't like we had much choice on who to send to keep you distracted."

"Can we stop chitchatting right now and eat?" put in Lindow. "I'm starving!"

Tsubaki sighed. "Really Lindow?"

"Don't hold back on my account!" Aria reached for a dumpling. "Let's eat!"

* * *

The moon viewing/birthday party had gone on for a few hours. A few Ogretails tried to sneak up on them but Sakuya and Lindow dispatched them before they got anywhere near the party area. They had refused to let Aria leave, saying as the birthday girl, she should stay and have fun. Once the food ran dry the party had quickly come to an end. Since they were a big group, they needed multiple helicopters to get everyone back. Tsubaki, Dr. Sakaki, Lindow and Sakuya went on the first, leaving the rest of the First Unit behind to wait for the other one.

While Kota and Alisa argued over whether the birthday cake design was actually artistically good or not, Aria joined Soma in looking up at the moon a few feet away.

"You had fun right?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, it was fun. I really was not expecting a birthday party to come out of it." Apparently she had also had presents waiting for her back in the Den. No one wanted to bring them in case there was an actual Aragami attack.

He sighed in relief. "That's good. When Kota suggested we make it a surprise, I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not." He was silent for a few moments. "From what we were talking about before, in the Forgotten Carrier…I wasn't lying. I really do still want to date you. Well, actually date you since that didn't happen before-I mean..." He groaned.

She had to laugh at his floundering. This time she put her hand in his and leaned against his arm. "Well that's good since I still want to date you too," she replied softly.

"We…we need to get better at this. Actually do things…whatever couples do."

"Well technically we did have a date today in a way?" she pointed out. "Wasn't much of a date though but we can change that in the future."

"True."

"I don't want to disturb you two, but helicopter is here guys!" called Alisa.

Aria looked back. "Thanks Alisa!" She looked down at their hands and then at Soma

"We….we can hold hands until we get to the helicopter right?" he asked.

"I would say so," replied Aria.

Much to her surprise, Soma did not let go of her hand when Alisa and Kota gave them wide grins. Instead his grip on her hand tightened. She smiled. Everything was fine after all.


	5. Chapter 5-Extra Chapter 2

**7/22/16- Hope to be back with another chapter or two in September!(or whenever I finish Rage Burst).**

* * *

Lindow stared in amusement at the young man sitting across from him on the couch. "You know Soma," he began as he took another long drink from his can of beer. "It isn't that I do not enjoy your company but I am assuming there is a reason you came here today?"

Soma's grip tightened slightly on the can of juice. "There…there is a reason…" he mumbled.

Lindow really wished he had something to record this moment. The rude and snappy Soma was actually nervous! It was actually quite funny and he really wanted to make a joke about it. However if he did, he had the feeling Soma would just storm out for now and come back later in an attempt to try again. Maybe.

Lindow leaned back on the couch. "Let me guess, this has something to do with Aria right?"

Soma jumped slightly. "Maybe…" he mumbled.

"I never thought I would see the day when you come visit me about love advice." Lindow wiped a fake tear from his eye. "You are making me so proud."

"Shut up," snapped Soma. He shook his head. "Forgot it, I'm out of here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on!" Lindow put up his hands in surrender. "Look, I'm sorry about that comment, forgive me alright? What did you come here for? I'm sure I can help you out."

Soma was halfway up but thankfully he decided to settle back down on the couch. "Uh, how should I put this…"

Lindow wondered what kind of advice Soma needed in the first place. The two had been going out for about four months now. They weren't very lovely-dovey in person (as least compared to him and Sakuya) but they did send looks to each other here and there. Lindow did not doubt they were the type that was more romantic behind closed doors. Aria, so she could keep her Captain-facade in front of everyone and Soma would just get embarrassed by that kind of stuff in public.

Whoa, was Soma trying to ask him advice for going all the way? No way, it had to be too soon for that. Well, what did he know about their relationship in the first place? Maybe they were ready to take that kind of step.

"I was wondering what I should do next with her…" he mumbled.

Lindow stared at Soma blankly. "Come again? 'Do next'?"

Soma nodded. His hand reached up and tugged the edge of his hood down to cover his eyes.

"Yes…do next…" mumbled Soma.

Lindow gestured for Soma to elaborate. "I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about Soma. Are you asking for where to go on dates? Or are we talking more…intimate here?"

Soma stared down at his feet.

"Come on Soma, I need more details here. What are you asking?" It was like pulling teeth! Or trying to shoot a Zygote out of the sky.

"Well Aria and I have been going out for four months…"

Lindow really wanted to make a comment of how everyone knew that but he refrained. Soma was getting there…albeit really slowly.

"Ummm and I'm not sure what we're supposed to do next…"

Supposed to do?

"I mean, we do go on dates and stuff. I mean, the best we can do, which is pretty much missions with just the two of us. I help her out with the paperwork and remind her to go to sleep and whatnot...we spend time together in the Den too..." He growled in frustration. "I feel like we're behind on this stuff. The Arius Nova incident really pushed things back and our relationship was on hold for a while due to that. Sure, we picked it up afterwards and started doing those kinds of things but...I feel like it's not enough."

"It sounds like you are doing fine," said Lindow. They were both high position God Eaters with other responsibilities. Aria as the First Unit Captain and Soma was in charge of the cleanup of the Arda Nova remnants. It was surprising that those two had any time for each other. Lindow was grateful that Soma was not looking for _really_ intimate details. He did not want to go through a birds and the bees talk with Soma yet(actually he hoped he never had to do it). He laughed. "I mean it's not like you two haven't kissed yet."

No response from Soma.

Lindow sat up and stared. "Wait…really? You two haven't yet?"

Soma again tugged his hood down.

Oh boy. Now Lindow could see the problem loud and clear. "Why haven't you?"

"It…it isn't that easy," snapped Soma. "She's…uh…."

No wonder Soma came to see him. Lindow already could tell what was going on here. Aria was the type of person that put the needs of others before her own. Since she had liked Soma for a lot longer that he liked her she probably was a-okay with kissing him. Heck, she probably would do it too. That is, if Soma gave her permission. That girl was too accommodating to others. She was probably waiting for Soma to be okay with the idea and to make the first move himself.

"It really isn't that hard Soma," said Lindow. "Just kiss her, she will be okay with it, I assure you."

"But…" Soma mumbled something under his breath.

Lindow leaned forward in his seat. "Sorry, I didn't hear that, what did you say?"

"What if I do it wrong?" he mumbled, a little louder than before at least.

Lindow bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. The Soma from a year ago would never care about this stuff. It was quite interesting how one girl (well, two if Shio was included) changed his outlook on life as well as other people. Heck, the only reason they were having this conversation now was because of her.

"Trust me Soma, you will be fine. Just make the scene romantic and just go for it. You can at least manage that right?" Lindow snapped his fingers as he thought of an idea. "Hey, I have a brilliant idea of when you can do it."

Before Lindow could state his idea, there was a knock on the door. "Open up Lindow, I come in Tsubaki's name."

Lindow could see Soma's eyes widen in panic. It was using every ounce of his being to not laugh. "Coming Aria!" He opened the door and Aria stepped in the room. "What can I do for you today?"

Aria put her hands on her hips. "Tsubaki sent me to ask for the progress reports for Annette and Fredrico. You did remember to do them right?"

"Of course, I have them right here."

Aria swiped them from Lindow's hand and quickly looked them over with a critical eye. Sheesh, he only half-assed them once. Over-reacting much? Satisfied with what she saw, she lifted her head and nodded. "Thank you Lindow. Oh Soma, I didn't see you there."

She looked back and forth between Lindow and Soma. "You two are a rare pairing."

"We're just having some guy talk," laughed Lindow. He could feel Soma's eyes shooting daggers at him. He silently told Soma to relax. There was no way he was going to spill what Soma had told him to Aria. At least, not yet. "Anyway, you're going to the party next week right?"

"I have to go." Aria ran her fingers through her short hair. "It's an important gathering of many of Fenrir's branches. Tsubaki said a lot of them want to meet me. And I'll have to remind you that you need to attend as well. You aren't going to be getting out of it. If you do, I'm going to put you on a mission to fight a Venus by yourself."

"Sheesh Aria, you need to stop hanging around my sister, you're getting more vicious as a result." Lindow sighed and shook his head.

Aria rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I have to get these back to Tsubaki before a vein bursts. This was due last week Lindow."

"Hey now, I'm a busy man!" protested Lindow.

"You're coming by to hang out tonight, right Soma?" Aria peered around Lindow.

"Uh…yeah…"

Aria blinked but she didn't comment on Soma's weird tone. Instead she bid them farewell before walking out.

"Well there you go, a perfect chance to kiss her."

"Huh?"

"During this party of course. Obviously the everyday setting is not working out well so do it while everyone is dressed up-make her night special. Perfect right?"

"I…I wasn't planning on going…"

Lindow stared at Soma. Sure the party was not required for most God Eaters. Everyone was still going because parties were so uncommon around here. There would be free beer for crying out loud! "You are going to leave Aria and let her fend for herself?"

"What are you talking about?" he snapped. "It isn't like a mission."

"Sure you might not want to go, but she has to go. There are going to be a ton of people from other branches there and they probably want to attempt to scout her to join their branches or something. And you're just going to leave her to fend for herself?"

"Stop making it sound more dramatic than it actually is," snapped Soma. "Aria can take care of herself."

"Yes she probably can but perhaps she wants you to be there with her? Plus, like I said, it is the perfect time to kiss her if you want to do it. "

Soma got to his feet. "Thanks but no thanks," he growled before leaving the room.

Lindow wasn't too worried though. He had planted the seeds in Soma's mind. Aria would water them without meaning to tonight.

* * *

"Right on time Soma, I just finished making tea!" Aria picked up one of the steaming mugs of the herbal tea blend and handed it to Soma.

He silently took it from her before walking over to the couch. "There seems to be more papers here than yesterday," he commented.

"I'm helping Dr. Sakaki organize some information from an experiment of his too," admitted Aria. She could already feel a lecture coming on from Soma of how she should take better care of herself and not take on too much work.

"Resonance research?" Soma picked up one of the papers and quickly scanned it over. "There are a lot of numbers here."

"I'm helping him out by coding the data." Aria took a seat next to Soma. She reached over him and grabbed a few pages from the end of the table. "Other than the data from me, Alisa, Fredrico, Annette and Lindow, Dr. Sakaki was able to get a bit more data from some of the other branches with New-Types. He is going to be doing a presentation at the party next week about resonance but he is really behind on getting the data ready to go."

"I'm still impressed how you manage to do this and your God Eater duties."

Aria shrugged. "I'm good at multi-tasking I guess? Anyway, this page here shows you how to code everything. You can take half and I'll take half and we'll code it out. That fine by you?"

Soma nodded before getting to work.

Despite both of them being silent, Aria was quite content with just silently coding next to him. At first they had done this sort of thing sitting on either end of the couch but slowly Aria had moved herself closer and closer until she was where she was now, right next to him. It actually surprised her at first when he had offered to help her out with the paperwork but it made her happy. It meant more time together.

_Look at me, actually thinking about stuff like this_. She never thought, a few months ago, she would actually end up dating Soma. Sure their relationship was progressing at a snail's pace but Aria was content with it. Soma did not have many social relations until she joined the God Eaters, he needed time to learn and get used to it. She had waited this long, she was fine waiting for a while longer. In a way, she had to thank the Arius Nova for that. Soma had become a lot more open with everyone and now he was not as bitter about what his father had done. It may have done nothing for their relationship(which was barely off of the ground when it happened) but it seemed to have been a good thing for Soma.

"So…" he began.

Aria looked up. She was about halfway through her pile. "Yes?" She noticed his cup of tea was empty. "Oh, let me refill your cup."

"It's fine Aria, you don't need to brew another pot."

"Don't worry, I made extra this time. I knew I was going to be up for a while." Aria took the cup to the small kitchenette. She checked to make sure the tea in the pot was still warm before she poured another cup for Soma.

"Uh, you're actually going to that party?"

What brought this on? Aria returned to the couch and handed the cup to Soma. "Of course. Like I said when I was in Lindow's room, I kinda have to go." She rubbed the back of her head and laughed. "Apparently the other branches want to meet me. I'll also a key part in Dr. Sakaki's research so I need to go for that reason too." Why was Soma asking about this?

"Will…uh, will you be okay?"

Aria tilted her head slightly. That was an odd thing to say. "Uh of course? Everyone else will be there." She giggled as she remembered something. "You weren't there but Alisa was freaking out because she didn't have anyone to accompany her to the party. In the end, Lindow just told her to invite Kota because Kota didn't have someone to go with either. You should have _seen_ how Kota's face turned red as Alisa invited but not invited him to go." She shook her head. "It was actually pretty cute I would admit."

The story did not seem to have the desired effect on Soma. Instead he seemed to get more agitated. "But you don't have anyone to accompany you?"

Aria shrugged. "No but it doesn't matter much to me." Sure she could have asked Brendan or Karl to take her as both of them were going solo but that would be too weird. Better for her to just go by herself.

"I…I'll go with you…"

"Eh?" Aria stared at Soma for a few seconds as her mind tried to process what he had said. "Oh Soma, you don't have to come," she said quickly. "I know you don't like functions like this, there would be a lot of people there so you don't have to go for my sake, really!"

"No, I…I'll go." He reached over and grasped her hands tightly in his own. "I'll be fine. I'll go."

The way he was staring at her made her blush and she dropped her eyes to his hands over hers. He was still getting used to the human contact so she was the one that usually initiated any real contact between the two of them. So the fact that he had held her hands while saying that he would go meant a lot to her. She didn't want to admit it but the party really made her nervous. It was one thing to speak to Tsubaki and Dr. Sakaki, it was another to speak to the heads of the other branches along with other God Eaters.

"You're thinking something," he murmured.

She looked up in surprise. She didn't know how Soma had gotten so good at figuring out when she was thinking something negative. Or maybe she was more relaxed to showing her inner feelings when they were alone together. She shook her head. "Don't worry, it's nothing." She reluctantly pulled her hands out of his. "Anyway, let's finish getting this done for Dr. Sakaki. He said he would give me a bottle of Love Juice if I didn't have it done by tomorrow."

* * *

Soma adjusted the collar of the tie around his neck. The damn thing was choking him. How did people wear these so tight!?

"Seriously, I feel like a dad sending his kids off on their first date," sighed Lindow.

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Kota, putting his hands on his hips. For once his spiky orange hair was tamed and slicked back.

Soma just silently tugged at the sleeve edge of the black suit jacket he wore. This felt so constricting! Why did he decide to go through with this after all? Sure, it was great that Lindow had helped him out in getting Soma something to wear but he had to wear this all night?

"I mean what I said, you two need to look sharp. You're just an accessory to your date. The girl is the real star of the show," instructed Lindow.

"I like how you are saying that but a lot of them want to see you too," Kota pointed out.

"They want to see my arm more than they want to see me." Lindow rolled his eyes. His red arm was covered by the sleeve of his jacket but the sleeve had been tailored to be large enough to cover it like his wedding tuxedo was.

"Seriously Soma, how are we going to get through the night being accessories?"

Soma ignored Kota. He adjusted the tie again. Why was the thing so damn tight!?

Lindow let out a long sigh. "At least we just need to go down to the residential section…"

Soma was surprised to find out that the Far East Branch was the one holding the party. Of course he never paid attention to that kind of thing before. It apparently had something to do with the Far East Branch having the most to show off this time or something. He didn't really care. He just hoped to make it through the night.

"Seriously, how long do girls take in getting ready?" whined Kota. "I mean it's not like we're going into battle or anything."

Lindow sighed again and shook his head. "You have a lot to learn about girls Kota. A lot to learn."

Soma silently leaned against a wall. The plan was to meet by the elevator so they could head down together. The girls had went into Sakuya's room and they hadn't come out in about an hour or so now. What in the world could they be doing in there?

"Don't teach Kota weird things!" scolded Sakuya as she stepped out of her room. She was wearing a slinky black dress that hugged every curve of her body.

"Are you being an embarrassment already Kota?" Alisa stepped out and crossed her arms. Unlike Sakuya that went with a floor length gown, Alisa's was pretty short, only going to mid-thigh in a pale gray color.

"Wow Alisa…you look…" Kota was speechless.

Lindow met his wife and gave her a kiss. "Where's our fearless Captain?"

Sakuya looked back and so did Alisa.

"Come on now Aria," said Alisa. "We did all that work, you have to show it off."

"I'm trying!" came Aria's strained voice. "These things are hard to walk in!"

Soma's breath hitched as Aria stumbled out of Sakuya's room. She was wearing a strapless red dress that made her…neck, look very nice. The bottom of the dress hit her ankles. It didn't have the long slit that Sakuya's had or the bare back like Alisa's but it fit her. Her hair was up (Soma realized this was the first thing he had seen her with her hair up) in one of those updos that girls did (he did not know the names to them). Her face looked slightly different and it took him a few seconds to realize that she was wearing makeup.

"I think she shocked him silly," laughed Lindow.

Aria slowly made her way over to Soma. He noticed that the strappy shoes she wore had a slight heel to them. "Uh hi," she said. She gave him her happy smile. "You look great tonight! It's weird seeing you-seeing everyone dressed up like this!"

"Uh…hi…" he replied. He knew he should say something back about what she was wearing but he just could not form coherent words.

"So? Shall we go? I'm sure if we're late, Tsubaki is going to kill us," said Lindow.

"Yeah, let's go," laughed Aria. She pressed the button for the elevator. "First Unit, move out!"

* * *

The elevator slowly made its way downward to the residential section.

"I'm going to eat so much food!" Kota said in excitement.

"Really now, you better not be an embarrassment," sighed Alisa.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Aria asked Soma. She had probably noticed how he kept adjusting his tie every couple of seconds.

"I'll be fine," mumbled Soma.

"Well don't force yourself. If you want to get out of there, just go, I won't feel offended."

Soma shook his head. He would be fine. He would make himself be fine, at least for her sake.

The elevator doors opened to the residential section. Soma was immediately bombarded with the sound and sight of a party atmosphere. There were people everywhere of every shape and size. Many, of course, had armlets of various colors attached to an arm, signaling their God Eater status.

"I spy the beer!" Lindow said in happiness.

"Really? Already?" Sakuya sighed but followed her husband.

Kota seemed to have spotted the food table as he made a mad dash for it. Alisa rolled her eyes in the direction of Aria before following him.

"There's a lot of people…" mumbled Soma. His hand was twitching slightly and he wished he had his hood. Aria slipped her hand in his and squeezed it in reassurance.

"Just stick to the edges and you'll be fine," she said.

"I have taken down powerful Aragami, I'll be fine."

She gave him her wide signature smile. "Of course. I believe in you."

He looked away in embarrassment. He could feel his face heating up.

"Anyway, what do you-"

"Excuse me, you are Aria aren't you?"

A female God Eater approached the duo. From the black and gold armlet and her age, she was obviously a retired god eater from a different branch.

"Yes, that's me."

It was like a fountain erupted. It seemed like people around her swiveled in her direction and began speaking to her, bombarding her with questions and comments. Soma pulled back as she began engaging them in conversation. How she managed to keep track what was going on he had no idea. There was at least ten people talking to her and she was talking back to them.

"It's like both of our dates have been kidnapped."

Sakuya joined Soma against the back wall. Like Aria, Lindow had his own crowd of people

Soma remembered what Lindow had told him before. Would he need to help her out? "Do you think Aria needs help?"

Sakuya stared at him for a few moments and then smiled. "No, I think she's got it for now. Both Aria and Lindow know how to handle people."

"Uh, can I have everyone's attention please?" Dr. Sakaki stood on a podium with a microphone. Behind him was a huge screen. "Thank you everyone for attending this gathering. I know many of you are excited to mingle with other God Eaters that you don't normally get to see every day. I know for the God Eaters traveling from the main land, this was a trek but I'm glad you could make it. Have some First Love Juice while you are here, it is the local delicacy.

"Anyway, enough of that. One of the great things about this gathering is showing off the research that has been gathered over the year. I will start off with my resonance research."

The screen behind Dr. Sakaki changed to a bunch of numbers and graphs. There were also pictures of all of the New Type God Eaters that he has used in his research.

Soma didn't really understand what Dr. Sakaki was talking about. It was about resonance, he understood that, but other than that, the doctor referred to numbers and synchronicity rates and a bunch of other technical terms. He was able to gleam that Aria was incredibly important to the research because her resonance ability was on par to no one else. He could see how people were looking over at her. Some looked at her impressed, while others had a different kind of look. Predatory.

He didn't realize he was digging his nails into his palms until Sakuya coughed next to him.

"Relax," she murmured.

Easy for her to say. He didn't want to risk speaking though. As if Dr. Sakaki had heard Sakuya speak, he was looking at them as he continued his presentation. It took another twenty minutes and a whole lot of mumbo-jumbo for Dr. Sakaki to finally finish up.

"The various God Eaters I have used in my research are all in attendance tonight so if you have any resonance questions, you can speak to them. I hope everyone has a good time! Oh and make sure you try the Love Juice punch!"

If the crowd was bad before in front of Aria, it was even worse now.

"Sheesh, it's like there is no point in us being here," grumbled Kota as he joined Sakuya and Soma. Since Alisa was also a New Type, it looked like the presentation actually sparked people to start gathering around her.

"It's like you can totally tell who is a New-Type and who isn't! I say we stand against it! Us Old-Types have some worth in us!" Kota raised his fist to the sky as if that could help prove his point. Soma thought he just looked like an idiot.

"You can do that but I'm sure they will back off soon enough." Sakuya shrugged. "They're just excited and looking to scout. I would say Aria and Lindow are much more note-worthy. I also heard some people saying they would love to have Aria at their own branch."

"What? There's no way they can scout her! Aria is our Captain!" Kota paused for a beat. "Right? She's not going to get up and leave us right? Soma! She likes us too much for that right?"

How the hell was he supposed to answer that?

"Oh man, he doesn't know! What if Aria does decide to leave?" Kota's eyes got wider. "What if she gets a better offer elsewhere! The money might be too good!"

"Really now, what are you crying about?" asked Alisa.

"Oh, looks like you have escaped the clutches," chuckled Sakuya.

Alisa made the gesture of tossing her hair over her shoulder but since her hair was up, it was odd. "They just asked a few questions about resonance and how I liked the branch. A few were from Russia but I didn't really have any connections over there. Anyway, what were you saying Kota?"

"He was crying about Aria leaving us to join another branch," put in Sakuya.

"It could happen!" protested Kota. "Our fearless captain is awesome and everyone knows it!"

"Her family is here, I don't think she has any reason to leave," Alisa pointed out.

"Oh yeah, there's that…"

Kota was placated but Soma felt the agitation rise in him. Even though Kota was super annoying about it, he was right. Aria was a great God Eater. There was a chance she could get a great offer to go elsewhere. Sure, God Eaters usually stayed in the same area but transfers did happen.

"Alright, I think I'm done sitting here feeling sorry for myself." Sakuya stretched her arms over her head.

"You go get your husband back!"

"Thanks Alisa." Sakuya disappeared into the crowd.

"So uh…you want to dance or something?" asked Kota. There was some music playing and it looked like a part of the floor was sectioned off for people wanting to dance.

Alisa made a face but before she could respond, someone tapped her on the shoulder. The man spoke to her to another language (Russian probably). Alisa cooly replied back in Russian before turning to Kota. "Never mind. Let's do it."

"Hope you have some fun too Soma!" called Kota was he was dragged away.

"Oh, you're Soma?"

It was a girl. Her looks definitely placed her as European. "You're one of the members of the First Unit right?"

"Uh yeah." Where did this girl come from? Ugh, why did Kota have to yell his name so loud?

"I heard the First Unit is the best around here. You are an Old-Type right?"

"Uh yeah…" How did this girl know so much about him?

"Oh, it's in the database," she replied with a laugh as if she could sense his confusion. "A lot of us from overseas were curious to who would be attending so we did our research."

Soma remembered Aria doing something similar. She mentioned it was good to see how other branches were doing and how strong they were. What was the point in that? It wasn't like one was going to meet any of them in everyday life (at least until this one night).

"So what's it like working with Aria anyway? I hear she's really skilled, of course you are too, your stats are amazing as well." She shook her head. "I wouldn't say I am. I've been doing it for a year but I'm still not very good at it-name's Clara by the way."

"Uh hi…" Ugh. He wished he had his hood to cover his face. Why did he think of coming?

"Soma! Sorry, sorry!" Aria scrambled over to him. In her rush, she stepped wrong and pitched forward.

Without thinking, Soma took a few steps forward and caught her before she could fall too far. Sure, she probably could have recovered herself but it wasn't like he could let her fall in front of him could he?

"Sorry Soma. I'm not good at this heel thing." She shook her head. "I seriously wonder how Sakuya and Alisa do this on a regular basis. It's super annoying." She stood and checked herself over. "Does the messy bun look okay?"

He stared at her hair blankly. "It uh…looks a bit messy?"

"Okay, perfect. That's fine." She poked a few of the pins in her hair. "But seriously, I'm sorry for leaving you here by yourself. I thought it wouldn't take long to greet everyone but it got really crazy there…" She noticed Clara. "Oh, hi. Were you two talking?"

Soma began to panic slightly. He remembered reading one of those magazines that Lindow let him borrow that girls got jealous easily. He really did not want her to think he was flirting with Clara or anything because Aria was busy.

"No, just small talk!" Clara's eyes were open in wonder.

"Oh okay, do you mind if I kidnap him then? It would stink if I never hung out with my date at all in this party!"

"Date?" Clara's voice jumped an octave. "Yes, you can."

Aria looped her arm through his. "To the food table, I'm ravenous!" When they were a little away from Clara, she dropped her voice. "I hope it's not a problem for you that I'm holding on like this. These shoes are really annoying my feet and I'm afraid I'm going to fall on my face if we go at a slow pace."

"No, it's fine." Although was it fine? Years of dealing with people's stares made him attuned to when people were looking at him. And now a lot of people were staring at him. Scratch that, they were only staring at him because Aria was on his arm.

"Are you doing okay? You're not freaking out? I know this is way out of your element in every level."

"I'll be fine," he replied. It wasn't like he had a hard job at all. He was a-okay with hanging out against a wall and not talking to people but Aria did not have a choice. A few people had come up to her on their way to the food table but she gave out a few jokes about having the appetite of a Vajra that helped deter them away.

"Finally! Food!" She released Soma's arm and grabbed a plate.

Soma had to admit that this was a spread he had not seen in a long time. It was obvious they had pulled out all of the stops to welcome the foreign God Eaters. There was also nary a giant corn on the cob in sight!

"I really wish the kids could be here to eat this. They would like this." She smiled down her large plate of food.

"Maybe you could smuggle some out. It's not like they will notice."

"Soma. Really now?" She giggled. "You are getting better at this joke thing."

He turned away. Since he had both plates of food in his hand (Aria did not want to risk dropping hers) he couldn't attempt to tug down an invisible hood.

"But still it would be nice for them to be able to see something like this," said Aria as they made their way over to the tables that had been set up on one side of the room.

Aria plopped in a seat and swiftly removed the shoes. She wiggled her exposed toes. "Freedom!"

"A…are you allowed to do that?" Did that mean he could rip off this stupid tie now?

"Alisa said I could take them off when I am sitting…or dancing. Apparently girls don't wear them when they dance."

Soma looked over at the dance floor. He didn't recognize the music, although he never did pay attention to that stuff. Everyone looked like they were having fun. He spotted Kanon's pink hair as she danced with a few other female God Eaters. Alisa and Kota were there as well. Kota was surprisingly pulling off some very random moves that either meant he had gotten some of the beer or he was just really bad at dancing.

"Do you want to join them out there?"

Aria looked up from her meal and then at the dancing. "No, that's okay."

Soma paused and looked at her. "Wait. You don't want to dance?" Out of all of the things, he didn't expect that. He had geared himself up to have to get out there and "strut his stuff"(according to Lindow).

"It's fine. I'm not too big on that kind of thing, I'll just sit here and enjoy my meal and enjoy the fact that those killer shoes are not on my feet."

"Do you not know how to dance or something?"

Her chopsticks paused for a moment before she shoved rice into her mouth.

Wait…seriously?

"Out of all of the things…"

"S…shut up!" She pouted. "Jun says I have two left feet. The other children agree."

"But…but…you're so…graceful while fighting Aragami." Graceful in a demonic way but it has to count for something right?

"That doesn't translate to normal things okay? Plus, I know you are forcing yourself. So hush. No dancing."

Soma leaned back in his chair. It seemed like he always found out something new about her every day.

"Stop looking at me like that, it's embarrassing."

Was that red creeping up her face? Was she actually blushing? Before he could comment on that, someone cleared his throat behind him.

Soma whirled around, his hand closing into a fist out of instinct. If there was one thing he hated, it was someone sneaking up on him.

The man looked down at Soma in disinterest before focusing on Aria. "Hello. I am Alfred from the Far West branch, may I have a word with you?"

Aria straightened. In that millisecond, she was no longer Soma's girlfriend but the captain of the First Unit. "Of course, you may have a seat."

Alfred glanced over at Soma and then back at Aria.

Realizing that he was unwelcome, Soma stood. "I'm going to see who else is here," he murmured.

He saw a small crack in her captain facade. A tiny grateful smile. He gave her a small smile back before he slipped away from the table. Once he was a good distance away he turned to see Alfred was leaning over the table towards Aria. She had pushed her food to the side and was leaning over on her side too.

They were far too close for Soma's liking.

He looked away. What the hell was he doing?

"Oh Soma, there you are." Alisa looked around. "Where's Aria? Wasn't she with you? I have some people from the Russian branch that want to meet her and want me to translate."

"She's busy right now. Talking with some guy named Alfred from the Far West branch."

"Alfred?" Alisa's eyes widen. "But he's the head of that branch right?"

Soma blinked. What?

Alisa sighed. "Really Soma, you need to pay attention to this kind of stuff, it's pretty important."

"Alisa! Soma!" Kota pushed his way through the crowd with drinks in hand.

"Finally, there you are." Alisa took one of the drinks from Kota.

"You're welcome," Kota added. He shook his head. "That's not important." He lowered his voice. "So I was by the drink table, which is by the tables that everyone sits down at, and Aria was talking to someone! He looked really important."

"Yes, that was Alfred of the Far West Branch," put in Alisa.

"Yeah, whatever. What was important is that I heard Aria mentioning going out there! She is going to go to the Far West branch."

"What?" gasped Alisa.

"I know, I couldn't believe it either! I mean, I heard the Far West branch has some state of the art stuff that we don't have. So I guess it does make sense...but still!"

Soma wanted to strangle Kota. He also wanted to walk over to the table and grab Aria and get her out of there. What the hell? Had she known? Yes, that had to be the case. She had entered her "captain mode" as soon as he had introduced himself. His nails dug into his palms. Why the hell did she keep something like this secret?

"Soma, are you okay?" asked Alisa. She reached out but pulled her hand back at the last moment.

He couldn't be in this stuffy atmosphere any longer.

He ripped the tie from his throat as he mashed the button to the elevator. He headed up to the main floor and stormed out. It was quiet. One of the operators was at her station but she was dozing off. It was late and God Eaters have not been sent out tonight.

He collapsed on one of the couches by the large windows. He stared at the reflection of himself. His hair was slicked back, his clothes too prim and sharp. It didn't look like him at all, just a stranger. He gritted his teeth and rubbed his hands through his hair, returning it to a shadow of the messy state it usually was in. He would need to take a shower to get rid of all of the stuff Lindow had put in it.

"Damn it, damn it." He wanted to hit something. If only there was an Aragami to fight. Hell, maybe if he looked he could find one. It probably would not be worth the trouble that would come his way when Aria found out.

Aria.

Damn it.

What the hell was she thinking? Was it going to be like Ren and Maria, where she left without telling anyone? Or would she wait until the last second? What about the First Unit? Sure Lindow could lead but he wasn't her. They all followed Aria without question. Without her… without her…

"What the hell will I do without you around?"

He buried his head in his hands. He hated this. He hated all of the emotions that welled up within him. He couldn't name them all. He had never felt most of them before. What was this?

"Soma?"

His head jerked up. From the window reflection, he saw Aria standing behind him. She was carrying her shoes by the straps in one hand.

"Aria…" He tore his eyes away from the reflection. He knew he probably looked like a mess right now.

"Soma…Alisa told me you ran out of there. Are you okay?" She took a couple cautionary steps towards him. "Was it too much for you?"

Soma cracked a sarcastic smile. Always concerned about others. That was Aria in a nutshell. She was the strongest God Eater of this branch. He knew others had wanted to scout her. He knew she would be able to fend them off. And yet, she knew about this Alfred guy and the Far West. She had already made up her mind where to go.

"Soma…really…are you okay?" She was close now. He could sense her reaching out to him.

He stood. "When were you going to tell us."

"What?"

"When were you going to tell us?" he snapped as he turned around to face her.

She looked taken aback. "What?"

"When were you going to tell us Aria!? Were you just going to vanish like before?"

"Tell you…" The look of confusion was still there. "Soma…what…"

"Do you really not trust us at all!? I thought we were over this already Aria."

"Soma, really, I have no idea what you are talking about!" she snapped.

Soma paused. She had used her captain tone with him. She let out a long sigh. "Soma. Just tell me what is going on," she said slowly.

"You're going to the Far West branch right?"

Aria blinked. "How did…" She groaned. "Kota. I noticed he was right there. I didn't think he overheard though. Jeez, that wasn't supposed to be announced until tomorrow." She moved to run her fingers through her hair but it got stuck in her bun. Grumbling, she removed her hair from the bun and started pulling out pins. "I cannot think with my hair like this…"

"It was supposed to be announced tomorrow?"

Aria nodded. "Tsubaki told me earlier that the Far West branch had an influx of Venuses recently. Alfred, the branch head wanted to speak with me because Tsubaki and Dr. Sakaki planned on loaning out members of the First Unit to help them cull the problem."

"Members…"

"Yeah, I'll be going along with Alisa and you. Sakuya will be in charge of the First Unit when we are gone and Kota's staying back as well. Soma?"

Soma had collapsed back in the couch. Damn Kota. Really now. Why did he think Aria would do something like that?

"Soma, I would never leave this branch." She sat down next to him and lifted her feet and curled them under her body. "This is my home, plus I would never, never leave without mentioning it to you guys. We just wanted to have everything set in stone before telling everyone."

Soma rested his head on the back of the couch and rested his arm over his face. "Now I feel like an idiot."

She giggled.

He lifted his arm to look at her.

"Sorry, sorry for laughing. It's just…I'm happy."

"Happy?"

"Happy that you care so much. Happy that you're here to help keep me in line and stop being dumb." She nodded with a smile. "I'm getting better at this whole emotion thing but you help me a lot. Gah, how many pins did Alisa and Sakuya shove in my hair!?" She was running her fingers through her hair and dropped the pins down on a pile next to her.

The lights in the room were dim due to the late hour and the fact that no one was on duty. The moon was bright tonight and it lit up the room pretty well.

He slowly sat up and watched Aria as she pulled pin upon pin out of her hair.

Soma took a couple of slow breaths. He swallowed. He tried to remember everything Lindow said but it just would not come to mind.

"Aria?"

She looked up. "Hmmm? What is it Soma?"

"Can…can I…"

"Can you what?"

He looked away. The moonlight made her look ethereal in a way. Was this how it was done? Was this how one felt the first time?

"Soma?"

Aria had to be okay with this right? They had been together for four months. Sure it probably wasn't a normal four months. Both of them had been busy with God Eater things, but still, it was normal besides that right?

"Can I kiss you?" he blurted out.

Her eyes widen but then she grinned. "You didn't need to ask. Yes, yes you may."

He felt like he put ten pounds of pressure on his back. Seriously, why did he ask? If he just did it, he had the element of surprise. Then if he did do it wrong, it would already be done and there would be nothing to it. He could deal with the aftermath. This pretense though. Ugh. Could he do it?

She giggled before leaning in and quickly kissed him on the lips before she sat back. "There. Better now?"

Soma stared at her for a few moments in shock. He could feel his face heating up as he turned away. Where was his hood when he needed it!? He lightly touched his lips. She…she had been right there a few moments before.

He glanced over his shoulder. Aria was looking at the ground, her fingers touching her lips. Eyes slightly wide. If he had to guess, was she feeling the same embarrassment about this?

"Come on, don't look at me like that. It was my first kiss too you know."

First kiss? Soma felt another wave of embarrassment. "I..I'm sorry." Wasn't this important for girls? Lindow said that right?

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"I…I did it wrong…I think…"

"Did it? Well, for the record, I did it, so it would be my fault. Gah, just talking about this is so weird." She scratched her now free and messy hair. "Holy crap, I found another pin!" She dropped it onto the pile before she slid closer to Soma. She smiled at him. "We can try again you know. Maybe it will be better the second time."

He didn't think. He just went for it. It was awkward at first. He wasn't sure what he was doing and it didn't look like Aria did either. At the end he started to get the hang of it. No wonder Lindow talked about this as a good thing. It _felt_ good.

They separated to get air and Aria laughed. "I think we got it."

"Yeah…"

Aria put some of her hair behind her ear. Her face was flushed. "Although I would love to stay up here with you, they are probably missing me down there."

That damn party. He wished they could stay up here on this moonlight-bathed couch doing…this thing.

Aria put her feet back in the shoes and stood.

Soma stood as well. "I'll take you back down."

"Are you sure?"

Soma nodded. Now that he knew she wasn't going anywhere, why should he avoid it? Sure he disliked being around so many people but Aria would still need to be there. "I can't let my fearless leader go into battle alone."

Aria laughed. "Alright then."

They got into the elevator and Soma pushed the button.

"You know..." said Aria. "I think you could pull off a white coat."

Soma looked back at her in confusion. "What?"

She grinned. "Just talking out loud." She leaned against his arm. "I really hope you decide to come along with me."

"What are you talking about?"

She smiled. "Dr. Sakaki, Tsubaki and I have been discussing things for the future."

"Things for the future?"

She shook her head. "Nothing to worry about now. And don't worry. I won't be disappearing without saying anything."

"I'm going to keep you to that."

"Oh crap."

"What is it?" Soma looked around. Was there something that she was reacting to?

She ran her fingers through her hair. "What are they going to think…"

"What? Think what?"

She shook her head. "It shouldn't be a problem…hopefully…"

"What shouldn't be a problem?"

She shrugged. "Whatever. What will be, will be." She set her shoulders back. "I'm the captain of the First Unit. I do not need to explain anything."

Soma didn't really understand what was going on but he knew he would follow her anywhere. He held out his arm as the elevator doors opened and they stepped back into the party, together.


	6. Chapter 6-GE2RB After Story

**Well that took a lot longer than I thought to beat GE2... But I'm finally back with a two-parter that takes place after GE2RB. Featuring my GE2 protag, Kaiya at times, haha. And before anyone asks, no, I don't have any stories planned for her at this time. **

**Also, for the mission, I imagined it to not be in the area of the City of Mercy, you see in game but somewhere past the ledge behind the church. :)  
**

* * *

"And then the boy named Ren said goodnight to his family and went to sleep."

"That was an amazing story!" Ren bounced up and down in his seat. He looked to his left. "Mommy, wasn't that a great story?"

Sakuya chuckled and put an arm around her son. "Yes it was." She looked up at the story teller. "Now will the Ren in front of me actually take the nap as he promised?"

Ren frowned and looked back to the right, at his self-proclaimed favorite story teller. His eyes were wide and pleading.

"You did promise your mother you would," said Aria.

He grumbled but rested his head in his mother's lap and closed his eyes. A few minutes later he fell fast asleep.

Sakuya let out a long sigh in relief. "Can you please move in with me and be charge of getting Ren to take naps? You seriously have the magic to get kids to go to sleep."

Aria laughed softly so she wouldn't wake him. "I helped take care of a lot of kids growing up, you gain a lot of tricks that way."

"And I am so grateful for that. Otherwise I would have torn my hair out before we got to the Branch."

"That would make an interesting reunion though," Aria pointed out.

Sakuya shook her head.

Tsubaki slowly made her way to the back of the helicopter where the three of them were sitting. "We're almost there," she said. "Maybe another half an hour or so. We need to make a small detour though. There's a Unit fighting some Aragami at the Forgotten Carrier."

Aria perked up.

Tsubaki sighed. "Before you ask, it seems like they were not expecting the amount of Aragami that have arrived on the scene. The driver thought it would safe for us to go around it just in case an Aragami gets the idea of attacking the helicopter."

"Will the Unit be okay?" asked Sakuya.

Tsubaki shrugged. "Not sure. The driver doesn't know who it is…Aria, sit back down."

Aria was halfway out of her seat. "We're almost to the Forgotten Carrier right? Just drop me off on the edge and go on."

"Don't bother trying to change her mind Tsubaki," chuckled Sakuya. "We know how well that goes."

Tsubaki sighed. "Sadly I do." She turned to go talk to the driver.

While Aria grabbed her God Arc from storage, Sakuya clipped Ren into his own seat and put the oxygen mask on the sleeping boy. "Be careful out there."

"I don't think you need to tell me that," laughed Aria.

The helicopter climbed higher. Aria went to the back of the chopper and opened the door. They were right over one end of the Forgotten Carrier. This was probably as close as the driver was willing to go. A few Kongous were directly below her. Perfect.

"I'll see you guys in a little bit!" Aria jumped out of the helicopter. The wind whipped around her as she transformed her God Arc into the devouring form and devoured as she landed on a Kongou. The creature screamed and fell, the inertia from her fall as well as her God Arc stabbing it, killed it instantly.

A girl with curious cat-like black hair wielding a hammer, jumped at Aria's sudden arrival.

"Whoa! Where did you come from!?"

Aria took in the Aragami in the area. "Just came to help," she replied before jumping into the fray.

* * *

"So uh, why are we here again?" asked Kota.

"Don't ask me," grumbled Soma. Today had been a weird day. He wanted to back to work on studying the Retro Oracle Cells but Sakaki had said that Soma needed to be up on the roof with the rest of Cradle to welcome the guests that would be arriving today via helicopter.

What kind of guests required the Cradle Unit to be here? And Kota as well! Sure he was a member but it was still so strange.

"I tried to prod the Old Man for more info but I got nothing." Lindow scratched the back of his head.

"Maybe it's a practical joke of some kind?" asked Kota. "What if everyone else is waiting inside and timing how long we stay out here being gullible!?"

"I really don't think Dr. Sakaki would do that," Alisa pointed out.

Soma rolled his eyes. He could have made real progress by now. What-

"Holy crap, look guys! There's a helicopter!" Kota pointed to the sky.

"Well, would you look at that," said Lindow.

The helicopter touched down. The door on the side opened up. A familiar young woman with black hair stepped out first.

"Sakuya!?" Lindow stared in disbelief.

"Daddy!" Someone inside of the helicopter handed Ren to Sakuya. She put him down and the little boy ran to his father.

Lindow swept the boy up. "Oh hello there little man! Look at how big you've grown!" His claw-arm hugged Sakuya.

Tsubaki stepped out of the helicopter.

"Geez sis, you're here too!? What is this, an Amamiya family reunion?" Lindow laughed and hugged his sister.

"It's great to see you guys again." Sakuya turned to the other members of the Cradle Unit.

"It's great to see you too Sakuya," said Alisa. "What are you doing here though?"

"We came by for a little visit and a change of scenery. Plus Ren was missing his dad."

"It's great to see you but why did we have to come here?" grumbled Soma. Sure it was nice to see them again but he had been stuck waiting here for the helicopter. He could have gotten so much work done and said hello later!

Tsubaki and Sakuya exchanged looks.

"Well, it's because Aria was supposed to be with us," said Sakuya.

"What do you mean by supposed to?" Soma asked slowly.

"That girl jumped out of the helicopter to assist the God Eaters working at the Forgotten Carrier," sighed Tsubaki.

Everyone (but Ren) exchanged looks.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Alisa.

"Why am I not surprised?" Kota shook his head. "Seriously, you can't take that girl anywhere."

Lindow laughed. "Our fearless captain had to make a grand showing of things."

Soma had to agree. But he wasn't really surprised either. That was just the kind of person Aria was. It still pissed him off though. "What Unit is there?"

"I think the Blood Unit if I remember correctly," said Alisa.

"Well, if it is the Blood Unit, they should be back soon," said Kota. "Should we wait here then?"

"You guys can do that," said Sakuya. "I want to get Ren settled."

"I'll go with you," said Lindow. He had not put down Ren during the whole exchange.

* * *

Kaiya had been involved with a lot of strange things in her time as a God Eater. A God Eater falling out of the sky was definitely now on the top ten list. The Aragami around them were all dead so they all converged together. Ciel had already called in a chopper so they had time.

"You were amazing out there!" said Nana to the mysterious God Eater. "You were devouring left and right and taking things down like no tomorrow."

The woman laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Really, it wasn't anything like that."

"No really, it was pretty amazing. You might be even stronger than our Captain," said Gil.

Kaiya stared at Gil in mock horror. "Really? After everything we've been through!?"

"I don't know Gil. When Kaiya activates her Blood Rage, nothing can stop her!" Nana pointed out.

"Oh, you guys are the Blood Unit!" she said suddenly. She looked around. "Well dang, you guys didn't need my help then."

Huh? She knew who they were? Kaiya didn't recognize her though. The white coat with gold lines told her this woman was a Cradle Unit member. Other than her armlet that signaled her for a New Type, there were no other features to give Kaiya an idea of who she was.

"I'm sorry but we haven't gotten your name," spoke up Ciel.

"Oh, sorry. You guys haven't met me yet but I know a lot about you." She rested her fist over her heart. "Corporal Aria of the Cradle Unit."

"Aria!?" Kaiya squeaked. Her Unit had the same look of disbelief. All of them had heard the stories about her. This was Aria!? No wonder she fought like she did!? "I…I…"

"Oh no," murmured Gil.

"I…I'm your biggest fan!" Kaiya ran over and grabbed Aria's free hand. "I…I heard so much about you and I've been wanting to meet you. You fight as amazing as everyone says you do."

Ciel put her hand on Kaiya's shoulder. "Maybe you should give her some space. I'm sorry about that Captain. Ours can be very…expressive."

"Oh, no it's fine," Aria replied. "Oh and you can call me Aria."

"As you wish," said Ciel.

"Oh, and if you guys mind, can I ride your chopper back with you. Mine kind of left me here."

Kaiya nodded. "Of course!"

Kaiya couldn't believe this! She got to ride a helicopter with Aria! Apparently she was going to arrive unannounced and surprise the Cradle Unit but when she saw that the Blood Unit was in trouble she had to help them. Sure, Kaiya knew they could handle it but still! What a way to meet a legend! What surprised her even more was that Aria seemed to know all about them! After giving names, she correctly named everyone's blood power and asked a few questions on how it worked. Ciel was pretty excited when she realized Aria shared the same level of interest in tactical work as her.

She wished the chopper ride would last forever but of course it could not. When they touched down, Kaiya noticed that a few members of the Cradle Unit were waiting for them.

She was the first to hop out and saw Soma approach the chopper. "Hi Soma."

"Hi," he replied gruffly. His focus was on the chopper door. He looked very angry.

Maybe she should warn Aria to run?

However it was too late. All of her Blood Unit was out of the chopper so Aria jumped out. Her eyes met Soma and she froze.

"Uh…hi Soma? Fancy seeing you here."

"What in the world were you thinking, jumping out of a chopper!?" he snapped. "You could have hurt yourself or worse!"

"I knew what I was doing," she replied.

"Still! You need to be more careful! There was no reason for you to do that! The Blood Unit could have handled it."

"And here he goes again," said Kota.

"I feel kind of bad for her," whispered Nana.

Soma sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sometimes I really wonder if you think before you act."

"Soma, you know I do."

He stared at her. And then he did something Kaiya never expected him to do.

He hugged her, with his face buried into her shoulder.

Kaiya's mouth dropped open in shock. Her Blood Unit had the same reaction. Kota and Alisa did not seem bothered by it though.

If Kaiya wasn't so hyper-aware she would not have heard him say softly. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she replied.

"Alright Soma, that's enough." Alisa clapped her hands. "Don't keep Aria for yourself. We want to see her too!"

Soma, as if he realized where he was, released her and stepped away like she was on fire. He stared at the ground. Wait. Was he blushing!?

"It's nice to see you too Alisa!" Aria and Alisa shared a hug.

"You're not going to believe it but the Bugarally movie is going to be on tomorrow night! We should watch it!" Kota and Aria fist bumped.

"Of course," Aria replied with a laugh.

"Kaiya, we should go." Ciel lightly grabbed her Captain's arm.

"Huh? Oh right." Kaiya walked with the rest of her unit towards the elevator. She gave them one final look and saw them all laughing, even Soma! She had a feeling things would get so much more interesting now!

* * *

"And then bam! I shot the Gawain straight through the heart!" Kota stood proud, tall and pointed to the ceiling of the lounge to prove his point.

"Really, it wasn't like that at all," sighed Alisa.

"It was close!" protested Kota.

"Captain…I landed the final blow," Erina pointed out.

Kota hung his head. "You guys…"

Aria laughed.

"Are we doing okay on food?" Mitsumi walked over to check on them.

"Looks like we're doing okay for now. Thanks," said Lindow.

The lounge been turned into a party room to celebrate Aria (and per her insistence, Sakuya) returning to the Den for a time. The only members of the Far East that were not on active duty was the Cradle Unit. Every now and then members of the other units would come in to say hello and to share a few words with her. She was glad to see everyone was doing okay.

"I love the food you make," said Sakuya. Tsubaki was taking care of Ren for the night so she could be at the party with everyone else. "I'm a bit jealous that everyone gets to eat this food all of the time."

"Oh uh thank you," Mutsumi looked away shyly.

"You're doing some good work here Mitsumi, keep it up," Aria said with a wide grin.

Mutsumi nodded happily and returned to her counter.

"You guys are all doing okay right?" asked Aria. Her eyes darkened. "I'm sorry I wasn't here during the Spiral Tree incident." She had been on the mainland when she had found out what had happened. She wanted to drop everything and fly back to the Far East but Tsubaki stopped her. There was no way she was going to make it back in time. She had known that but still. When she had finally gotten confirmation that everything went well, she breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to call everyone but her mission was not complete. Finally getting to see everyone today alive and well had taken that weight off of her shoulders.

"Don't worry, we were okay here," said Kota "Although it did get a little crazy, the Blood Unit took care of everything."

"You really need to see the Sacred Ground in person Aria, it's quite amazing!" said Alisa.

"I really want to." Aria had seen the pictures.

"I'll take you there," said Soma.

"Why am I not surprised!" laughed Lindow.

"Oh be quiet!" Sakuya glared at her husband.

"I need to get research samples!" protested Soma.

Aria had to smile. It was nice to see that his habit of looking at the ground when he was embarrassed has not changed since she was gone. She slipped her hand in his. "I would like that."

"A true knight of chivalry! You Soma are someone that I need to look up too!" said Emil.

"Please don't," Soma sighed.

The party continued on for as long as they could let it but still give enough time for the members to get some sleep and return to work in the morning. Even with the party over, the group returned to their rooms together, as if no one really wanted it to end.

"You need to tell me your secrets on how to stay on top of the paperwork, you promise right?" asked Alisa.

Aria laughed. "Of course, I promise." Alisa went into her room and now it was down to just Aria and Soma.

Without a word, she walked towards the room she had been given for her stay at the Far East. The room she had when she was Captain had been handed down to Kota so she had to stay in one of the guest rooms.

She entered the room and noticed her stuff was already there. "Oh yay!" She hurried over to one of the bags and pulled out the small canister of tea leaves. "Give me a few minutes and I'll get the tea whipped up!"

He chuckled and sat down on the couch. It reminded her of the old days. Back when she was the Captain of the First Unit and they would have chats in her room at night. That days usually ended with him insisting she go to bed instead of doing paperwork.

Once the tea was ready she joined him on the couch. She leaned her head on his shoulder and entwined her fingers with his. "How have you been?"

"Fine," he replied. "We found the Kyuubi and got the Retro Oracle Cells. There's so much potential. It's only just begun and I know it can be used for so much."

She smiled as he continued to talk about the oracle cells. He sounded so excited, like a little kid with a birthday present.

"Am I boring you?"

She lifted her head. "Not at all. It's interesting to listen to. I know it's important to you and it will help a lot with satellite bases" She grinned and added, "Doctor Soma."

He looked away. "Please don't call me that."

"Still not used to it?"

"I'm used to it, but you don't have to call me that." He looked back at her.

"What?" she asked when he didn't say anything.

"It's just, it really hit me how long you were gone. Your hair is longer." He touched the tips of her hair, which now was halfway down her shoulder blades.

"Oh, yeah, it is. I'm thinking of getting it cut. It's gotten too long for my liking."

"How short?"

"Maybe back to the length it was when I first became a God Eater?" She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm still thinking about it."

Soma nodded silently and reached for his cup of tea. "Are you on duty tomorrow?"

"I don't think so." Aria thought about it. "Oh yeah, nope." Tsubaki had been very insistent on that. Sure their secret mission was labor intensive but she wanted to be out there! It would be like the old days.

"Well, I'm just doing research tomorrow if all goes well so if you don't mind…" He mumbled something.

"Soma, you need to speak louder." Although she had an idea of what he wanted to ask her.

"Can we talk a bit longer?" he whispered.

"Of course."

* * *

Aria closed the file and shook her head as she took it in. Wow. Just wow. Most of the information she had access to about the Spiral Tree before coming here was limited. All she really knew was that it was a bad situation. Reading about everything that happened… Wow. She really wished she had been here. She could have done something, anything.

She also really wanted to give Julius a hug. She had met him yesterday and he seemed like a nice fellow. To have to go through that…

She got up and headed for Sakaki's office to return the files. She wondered if she would actually get to go out into the field at some point during her visit at the Far East. Yesterday there had been a psion in the area and she had offered but was immediately shot down by Hibari because she didn't have a Blood Art so her God Arc would have been useless.

Maybe she should go visit Jun and the rest of her family. She was planning on seeing them at the end of the week but it might be better just to do it now.

"Oh Aria, perfect timing."

Aria paused in the doorway of Sakaki's office. Tsubaki and Hibari were there. "Time for what?" she asked.

"It would be probably best to explain when everyone is here," said Tsubaki.

"Sure." Aria stepped into the room and handed the file back to Sakaki.

It didn't take long as Kaiya walked into the room.

"What's going on?" asked Kaiya. "Fran said it was urgent."

Dr. Sakaki nodded. "Hibari if you may?"

"Like an incident in the past, there's a wave of Aragami coming in." Hibari looked down at her notes. "They might have been attracted here from what happened to the Spiral Tree but it unknown."

"A migration pattern maybe?" offered Aria.

"Perhaps," said Tsubaki. "But that doesn't change the fact that there will be a lot coming. You two will be in charge of the squads sent to take it out."

"So it will be the Blood Unit and the Cradle Unit?" Aria held out her hand and Hibari handed her the data sheet. She whistled. "That's a lot of Aragami."

"There are a few psions in the mix so the Blood Unit will be charge of focusing on those," said Tsubaki.

"Alright," said Kaiya.

"Are all members of Blood on the case?" asked Aria. "Yes? Alright. Kaiya, it might be for the best to break your team into two. It seems like the psions are spread out and it might be easier to…" She trailed off. "Oh sorry. That's your squad."

Kaiya shook her head. "Oh no, it's fine. Ciel is the tactician of Blood. I'm not really good at that kind of stuff. But I'm sure she would agree with you."

"Aria, you need to be careful out there," said Dr. Sakaki. "You don't have a Blood Art yet so your God Arc will shut down. I just wish we had the time to send you on a few missions with Kaiya to try to awaken your Blood Art."

"That's alright, I'll manage." Aria was already going through tactics in her mind. What would be the best way to handle this? She grinned. "I like how my first real mission back is something like this."

"The mission will commence in six hours so get all the rest you can. I've already sent the information to your computers," said Hibari. "And yes Kaiya, I sent a copy to Ciel."

"Thanks a lot," Kaiya replied.

The two Captains bid farewell and left the room.

"Well, I need to get my Cradle members together to go over some plans. You want to join our strategy meeting with the Blood Unit?"

Kaiya's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh really!?"

"Of course," replied Aria. "Your Blood Unit has been doing some crazy stuff too. Kind of reminds me of the First Unit back in the day when I was the leader of it. Although I'm sure everyone has already told you that."

Kaiya nodded. "They have. I can't wait to work with you too! I'm going to go get my Unit. Meet in the lounge?"

Aria agreed and the two set off in separate directions. It was a very strange feeling to have someone like Kaiya look up to her. That girl was skilled according to the file. The two of them were pretty similar too. After this whole mess was over, they should hang out. A, Aria needed to unlock a Blood Art and B, it might be nice to share stories with someone that similar to her.

* * *

Soma stood on the building, his God Arc over one shoulder. He could see the hoard of Aragami approaching the City of had been down in the lab when Aria had come in and informed him of what was happening. Aragami seriously did not make sense.

"Aragami approaching," he said into his headset. Alisa was on a nearby building with her Arc in gun form. Kota was on another. He jumped down from the building and began towards the Aragami hoard. He could see Lindow waiting behind a building to his right. Aria was further up.

The Blood Unit was in a different area, their purpose was to get rid of the Psions. When that was complete, they would join up with the Cradle Unit.

"Everything looks different here," said Aria when Soma came up next to her. She stood near the edge of a ledge and peered down into a pit. "I don't think it was this deep before."

"A lot of things have changed around here. There are a few more of those around in places," said Soma. "Oh, I just realized you haven't been to the Sacred Ground yet."

"Oh yeah. We should do that after this mess," said Aria.

He nodded.

"Blood Unit has begun the assault! Blood Alpha has activated Blood Rage and is killing the Psions!" came Hibari's voice over their headset.

"I so wanted to see that in action," sighed Aria. "The vid feed from the test was amazing. I wish I could do something crazy like that."

"You'll get to see it someday," said Soma. "Plus you are already amazing….at being a God Eater," he added quickly.

He heard the sound of Alisa's and Kota's guns.

"Looks like we have company," chuckled Aria. "Let's go Soma."

Soma rushed into the scene, his sword swinging. Aria was already a few steps ahead of him, already activating one of her Predator styles on a Vajra.

* * *

Aria took a deep breath and searched for her next victim. Her hair was plastered to her face and neck from sweat. Around her, her Unit fought bravely along with the Blood Unit, who had joined them. She had to admit it, it was impressive how they fought. They moved like they knew what each other was going to do next. She also got to see Kaiya's Blood Rage as the girl had come barreling into the area, killing everything in her wake.

It was almost over. There was just a few left.

She heard a yell to her right and she turned to see Nana skid close to one of the ledges over a pit. The Aragami closest to her turned and went right after her. She had probably activated her Blood power.

No one else was close.

Damn.

Aria bolted in Nana's direction. She slammed her God Arc into the side of a Chi You, tearing off its wings and kept moving. Next was the Kongou and then the God Arc Solider.

"You okay Nana?"

Nana jumped to her feet. "That was so cool! But yeah, I'm fine-"

A God Arc solider from earlier had not went down from her swing. It was still running towards them. Too fast. The ledge they were on wasn't wide enough to effectively move out of the way.

"Use your shield, now." Thankfully her "captain voice" had the same effect on Nana as it did her own Unit as Nana put up her shield without asking. Aria fired a bullet right against the shield, sending Nana backwards and landing on a ledge further away and on her back. Out of harm's way but that was going to bruise.

Aria shifted to the right and the God Arc solider ran past her and over the ledge. However she had not faced one of them in battle before today and as she miscalculated how wide the sword was and felt the edge of it clip her head.

It didn't cut but it did stun her. That moment of pause was all it took. She felt a hand grasp around her leg. Her head smacked painfully against the ledge but she managed to hold on with one hand. She looked down at the God Arc Solider and pointed her gun at it and fired a few blasts. The God Arc Solider let out a feral cry as it released her foot and fell into darkness.

Aria took in a few deep breaths and took in her predicament. She was slipping. If she let go of her God Arc…

Rocks and dirt around the ledge were giving away. Obviously the ground was not as stable here as she thought. It was so dark below. Who knew how far down this went?

Her fingers were sliding. There wasn't much left keeping her attached to the ledge. Her fingers slipped and she began to fall-

"I got you!" Soma's hand grabbed her wrist. He was half-leaning over the ledge. His other arm was clutching something behind him. His blue eyes were filled with panic and determination.

Her eyes shifted to the rocks and dirt that were slipping from the ledge. "Soma, you need to let go. You're going to fall."

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you go," he growled. He tried to pull her up but there was no traction, he was holding onto her dead weight.

She checked the ledge. More dirt and rocks were falling. There was no time. Even if she released her God Arc…

She had to make him let go. She looked him in the eyes and smiled before she sent a wave of Resonance through her hand into his. Like she thought what would happen, Soma jerked in surprise, releasing her hand.

She kept the smile on her face as his face grew farther and farther away. She saw someone haul him backwards. Good. That was good.

Aria looked at the ground below her. She didn't know what was down there but she was ready for it.

* * *

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you go!" Soma snapped. He had had a bad feeling when he saw Aria run over to help Nana. He ran in her direction. He saw the God Arc Soldier's sword hit her and stun her long enough to not realize that it had grabbed her foot. He saw her go over and he put on an extra burst of speed.

He had to slide but he got to her in time to grab her hand before she had fallen. Now the question was, what to do next? The battle was almost over. There were only a few stragglers left. Someone had to come and help. Nana was close. Not close enough but close.

He needed to pull her up. He tried to lift her but he was not in a good position, half hanging over the ledge. His other hand clutched the ground next to him. He was well aware that parts of the ledge were starting to give way. He needed to get her up now.

She looked him in the eye with tears on the corner of hers and she smiled.

Images flashed through his brain, moving faster than he could react. He didn't know what they were about. Colors. Just a bunch of colors. Memories? He jerked in response to the sudden invasion of his mind.

There was nothing in his hand anymore.

He looked down in horror as Aria was getting farther and farther away from him.

* * *

Kaiya killed the last Aragami and turned to see Lindow grab Soma from the edge of a ledge and drag him away. Soma's eyes were wide and his hand was half open as if he couldn't believe what he had seen.

Suddenly Soma seemed to spring to life. He tried to run back to the ledge but Lindow tightened his grip to prevent Soma from going anywhere.

"No, no, no, no! Let me go Lindow! Damn it, let me go!" He struggled against Lindow but Lindow struggled to keep Soma in place.

"I could use some help here!" he grunted.

Gil was nearby and he rushed over to help pin Soma down.

"Aria...Aria…." Soma sobbed. He was still struggling against them.

To her left she saw Alisa drop her God Arc and crumple, tears streaming down her face. Kota looked lost.

Kaiya took a shaky breath. "Ciel, are we alone?"

"We seem to be in the clear for now," she replied. "There are a few further out but we should be okay for a while." She looked over at Soma. "And call for a chopper."

Kaiya nodded.

Julius approached. "It would probably be for the best if a few of us take care of the stragglers."

She nodded. "Ciel, you stay here to make sure nothing gets close? And I guess Gil as well. The rest of us will clean up."

"Understood."

Kaiya swallowed as she looked at the broken Cradle Unit before she hurried after her Unit. If those Aragami weren't taken care of, then there would be more than one member missing.


	7. Chapter 7-GE2RB After Story 2

**And second half is released! There ended up being a lot of Alisa in this one for some reason...**

**Will I write more? There might be a chapter or two after God Eater 3 comes out or I just get the urge to write a cute chapter. Don't know yet but I might be back at some point with more! :D**

* * *

"Soma, I think you need some rest." Sakuya lightly touched his's arm.

He jerked away, more in surprise than anything else.

Sakuya frowned and led him over to the couches in the Den. "Have you been in your room for the past couple of days?"

He didn't respond. His attention was focused on the door of the Den. Today's search party had been out there for the past few hours. They had to come back soon. He wanted to be out there as well but Sakaki had overruled him on that matter. Other than that, he was not allowed to go on any missions either. He was pretty much locked down inside of the Den.

"Soma, you need to rest." Sakuya grabbed the sides of his head and forced Soma to look at her. "You need to rest."

He moved away from her grasp. "I can't…"

"You can. When she comes back, she would not want to see you like this."

He glared at her. "How can you understand!? It's not like…." He trailed off as he realized something.

Sakuya smiled. "I think I am the most qualified to talk to you about this."

"How did you manage?" he whispered.

"Not well," she replied. "That is why I'm telling you that you need to rest. Go back to your room and get some sleep. Everyone is worried about you Soma. You just wander around. If you need to, go to your room and cry about it. Or cry on my shoulder. I don't care either way. You have to remember, our fearless Captain is not the type to go down without a fight. And she won't forget Cradle's motto."

"Never give up on living," whispered Soma. Would she remember that though? It had already been two days. They hadn't found her armlet or her God Arc. The first group had explored where she had fallen but apparently she had survived the fall and had moved on. There had been traces of a fight but no indication of where she had gone.

"And you need to remember that too." Sakuya pulled him to his feet. "Come on, let's get you some food from the lounge and then you're going to sleep okay?"

He nodded numbly and followed Sakuya. Alisa and Kota were in the lounge, sitting on the couches. Both of them looked terrible.

"Well, looks like we have another for the club," said Kota.

Soma did not say anything but he did take a seat next to Kota.

* * *

"Hey, are you up for a mission today?" Lindow stuck his head in Soma's room.

Soma looked up from the book he had been attempting to read. It was on Aragami infection. He wanted to brush up on it…just in case, but the words just swam on the page. He couldn't remember anything it said.

"They're letting me go out on a mission?" Soma asked in surprise.

"Staying here too long will make you go crazy. Come on, let's go."

Soma got up. "How are you able to function?"

"Me? Hope I guess?" Lindow flexed his Aragami arm. "I know if she ends up like me and we find her Arc, well I'm not going to hesitate. I'm just going to touch the thing and go at it. It will be poetic, you know? Returning the favor. Plus, on a more serious note, panicking will do nothing. Searching for her will lead to a solution."

Soma paused as he took in the members of this little mission that were waiting by the elevator. Alisa and Kota.

"Thought it would be the best for all three of you to get out. It's a simple mission, just two Garms in the Abandoned City."

All three of them looked slightly better than what they had looked like a day ago. Where in the world was she? No one had found her. He knew that making better beacons on the armlets would need to be a top priority. Or was hers updated to the newer model? She had been gone for a while.

A lump rose in his throat as he thought of her. He looked out the chopper window but saw nothing but clouds. Where the hell was she?

"Come on you three, liven up! We're going to do some hunting," Lindow said cheerfully.

"Doesn't this remind you of when Lindow vanished?" put in Kota. "Aria was very chipper then too."

Soma nodded. "I remember that."

"I was in the infirmary but I remember as well," said Alisa. "She's always…" She shook her head. "No. She's alive. There is still hope. She would be so angry with us for being mopey."

"She would be so angry that she would assign us hard Aragami!" put in Kota.

"Or help her with her paperwork," put in Soma.

"I hope not!" Alisa shivered. "My own paperwork is bad enough."

Soma saw Lindow smile but not contribute to the conversation.

* * *

How long had she been walking?

She favored her right leg. Her God Arc dragged on the ground but she refused to let it go despite the fact she would move faster without it.

Her vision was blurry on the edges. How many days had it been? She had fallen into the pit and there were Aragami waiting for her. She fought, fought and fought. Till she felt sticky from blood, till all she could see was red. She continued to fight.

_Don't run away from living_.

Her own order.

The Aragami around her were dead. Was it the same day or the next? She hadn't been sure. Her com was gone, lost in the struggle. She had walked.

Walked.

Fought.

Walked.

Fought.

Her supplies were gone. Her mouth was dry. Her body screamed for her to stop. To lie down. No. She couldn't. If she did, she didn't know if she could get up again.

A step. Another.

A howl came from in front of her.

Garm? She tightened her grip on her God Arc. Her Oracle Cells were at their limit. She pushed her body forward.

A ledge in front of her. How ironic.

In her hazy vision, she saw the Aragami below her. Howling.

With a burst of strength, she jumped and landed on the Aragami, her Arc slicing through its body and delivering the killing blow.

A sound near her.

She turned to it. Her vision was so hazy. She couldn't see far. An armlet though. Red and black.

Those blue eyes. She knew them.

People next to him. She knew them too.

She smiled before darkness took her.

* * *

Soma raced after the Garm. Bastard, trying to escape its end. Why couldn't it just accept death like its partner?

Next to him, Kota and Alisa kept pace. Lindow was taking a shortcut to try to cut it off. It looked like he was not going to make it though.

The Garm raced through the open courtyard of the Abandoned City and stopped by the back wall and howled.

"We got it now!" Kota pointed his gun at it and Alisa switched hers to gun form.

Soma kept going. He readied his arc to swing.

Only he didn't have to.

A figure jumped from the ledge above and swung a God Arc against the Garm. It cried out in pain as it collapsed.

It couldn't be…

The figure stood next to the Aragami. She turned her head as she heard the pebbles move around his feet as he walked towards her. She squinted, like her eyes couldn't focus properly. Her clothes were torn, various wounds adorned her body. Her left leg was bleeding from an injury that looked like it had just opened up. Her right arm was covered in angry red veins. She was alive though. She was here…right before him.

Aria smiled before her eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground.

Soma was by her side in an instant and managed to catch her before her head hit the ground. So cold. Her body was so cold. He tore off his Cradle coat and wrapped her in it. He pulled her close to his chest to try to give her any semblance of his body heat.

"Is she?" Alisa approached and kneeled next to Soma.

"She's alive," whispered Soma. Her breathing was slow. Painfully slow.

"I called a chopper. They're going to bring one right away," said Kota.

"Hey you guys, what are-" Lindow grimaced as he took in the scene. "Soma, when the chopper gets here, you take her and go. The three of us will wait for the next one. She needs to get back right away."

Soma nodded numbly. He kept his tight grip on her. He was afraid if he let her go she would disappear again.

_But she might disappear in your arms_. He pressed his forehead to hers. Hers was clammy and sticky. He didn't care. The faint traces of her breath caressed his cheek.

The chopper didn't arrive fast enough for his taste. When it touched down, he had Lindow hold onto her so he could get on before he took her back in his arms. She was so light. She had always been light but this was a whole different level.

Her breathing had gotten even slower by the time the chopper touched down at the Far East Branch. Medics were already waiting. She was taken from his arms, his coat thrusted back in his hands as they rushed her to the infirmary. He stayed with them as long as he could. However they would not let him into the room.

He took up residency in one of the couches outside of the infirmary. After a while, Lindow, Alisa and Kota joined him. Sakuya came by after a while and waited with them. Every now and then members of the other Units would join in the waiting.

Soma bristled when he saw Livie among one of the groups. He remembered what her job had been before she had joined the Blood Unit.

"Don't worry," she said when she realized Soma was staring at her. "I didn't come here to kill her. I'm here like everyone else."

Soma nodded numbly and looked back at the door.

The night dragged on. And yet no one came out that could give them an answer.

"Sakuya, you should go. Ren is going to wonder where you are," said Lindow.

"I know," she whispered. She stood. "Please tell me if anything changes."

The night dragged on. Lindow got everyone drinks. Soma put it to his lips and drank. He couldn't taste it. What kind of drink was it? Coffee huh?

Morning came.

The door opened and a doctor stepped out.

Soma stood. Alisa poked Kota in the ribs. Kota, startled awake. Lindow moved from the wall.

The doctor looked as tired as the Cradle members did.

"We have gotten her stabilized for now," he said. "There was a lot of damage to her body. I'm really not sure how she survived all of that. A regular God Eater would have died a few days ago with injuries like this."

"Our Captain is always the type to defy odds," chuckled Lindow.

"She has not regained conscious yet and we're not sure when she will but you can see her now." He smiled softly at them. "And then all of you need to go to sleep yourself alright?"

Soma stepped into the infirmary. There were a few members of the medical staff cleaning up equipment. He ignored them and walked over to the bed. She looked so small. So frail against the white sheets. She was hooked up to many monitors, all making various beeping noises. Heart rate, blood pressure, oracle cell level, everything was being monitored. Thankfully she was breathing on her own.

"She…looks like she's sleeping," whispered Alisa.

Soma went to her left side and grasped her left hand in his own. It was warmer than earlier but it didn't have the same level of warmth as it did when she was awake.

"Maybe it will be like the time with the Hannibal. Maybe she'll wake up soon," said Kota hopefully.

"We can only hope Kota," said Lindow.

Soma pressed her hand to his forehead. "Please wake up soon," he whispered

* * *

"I have an idea to wake up Aria."

Soma looked up from his computer at Alisa. "What?"

She put a hand on her hip. "I said, I have an idea to wake her up."

"Well, what's your idea?" asked Soma after he realized she was waiting for him to respond.

"I'll try to resonant with her. Like what she did with me to wake me up after what happened with the Vajra."

It had been almost a week and Aria had shown no signs of waking up. Safe to say, he was okay with trying anything at this point. However… "But we tried to use resonance with Kaiya a few days ago and it didn't work."

"Kaiya's resonance probably works differently than us Second Gens. Plus I have a close personal connection with Aria. That has to count for something."

Soma couldn't argue with that. He stood. "Let's do it now."

The two of them headed for the infirmary. Yae smiled at them as they entered. It looked like Kota had been here earlier as there was a Bugarally figure on the nightstand added to the other trinkets given by the various members of the Branch.

_Everyone wants you to come back Aria…_

He moved a few strands of hair from her face. Her face looked so peaceful. The scans of her brain told them she was dreaming. Was she dreaming of a better place than here?

"I promised I would take you to the Sacred Ground. Please let me keep that promise to you," he whispered.

Alisa sat down in the chair next to the bed. "I'm ready."

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Soma.

"I really don't know," said Alisa. "I don't know what is going to happen and I want someone here with me." She took a deep breath and opened her closed her hand. "I really hope I can do this."

"I'm sure you can," said Soma. "You understand your resonance a lot more now. You can control it better right?"

Alisa stared at Soma. "Are you trying to encourage me?"

Soma blinked. "Did I sound weird?"

Alisa shook her head. "No. It just wasn't like you." She lightly slapped her cheeks. "Alright. I know I can do this." She took a deep breath and touched Aria's hand. A moment later, she jerked her hand away.

"What is it?"

Alisa looked down at her shaking hand and then clutched it tight to her chest. "It was only a glimpse….but I saw it. I saw what she had been doing out there alone." Tears prickled the edge of her eyes. "It was horrible. There were so many Aragami. I could feel how tired she was. But she kept going. She just kept on going…"

Soma wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't good at the whole comfort thing. "It…uh, she's here. She's safe…"

He sensed movement and he turned his head and saw Aria's magenta eyes.

"Aria?" he whispered.

Alisa gasped.

Aria's eyes shifted and she took in both of them. She opened her mouth and her voice came out as a croak.

"Water!" Alisa apparently thought ahead as she had already got some water. Soma helped her sit up, with the pillows to support her back as Alisa helped her drink the water.

Her movements were sluggish but Soma didn't care. She was awake. She was right here with them now. He wanted to hug her, to hold her close to prevent her from vanishing again. She still looked so shaky and confused though.

She nodded in thanks. She looked back and forth between them again. "Um, who are you? And where am I?"

* * *

"Amnesia?" Soma stared at Sakaki in disbelief. "She can't have that. Amnesia doesn't work like that. You can't just forget three years of your life."

Sakaki leaned back in his chair. "Unfortunately, there's no other explanation for it. The whole case is odd. A God Eater suffering the amount of damage she had and still kept going? She obviously pushed her body passed the limit. There were probably some severe mental stress along with the physical."

"So what can we do about it?" asked Kota.

Sakaki looked at each member of Cradle in turn. "Sadly, I cannot give you a solution. The doctors are going to continue to look after her. She might regain her memory but she might not. In any case, she needs to go through physical rehabilitation so we will keep her in the infirmary for now."

"I wonder if it was because I used resonance…" Alisa looked down at her hand.

"It wasn't your fault," said Lindow. "You did what you thought would help. Look on the bright side, at least she's awake now."

Being awake and being her were two separate things. The way she had looked at him… all of the things they had been through. Gone. How could memories be so fleeting? So easy to remove?

"Soma, are you paying attention?"

Soma broke out of his thoughts and looked at Sakaki. "Huh, what?"

"The old man said we should be careful to not overwhelm her but we should talk to her about things."

"There is one problem though." Sakaki adjusted his glasses. "It seems she has developed a fear of Aragami."

"What?" Soma's eyes widen.

"When the word was dropped by the doctor looking her over, she had tensed up and her breathing had gotten heavier. It is pretty easy to conclude that what had happened to her caused a subconscious fear of Aragami."

Soma's hands tightened into fists. The room was stifling.

He could hear them calling for her to come back but he ignored them. He did not stop walking until he got back to his room. Once the door was safely closed he slid down to the door and pressed his hand against his eyes.

Damn it.

Damn everything.

* * *

Kaiya had thought everything would go back to normal once Aria had been found. Instead it seemed like things had gotten more strained in the Cradle Unit, which led to the other Units getting a bit antsy as well. She knew Aria was well liked in this Branch but she didn't realize how much of a presence Aria had here. Everyone that had been in the Branch three years or more seemed to have been shaken up.

Kaiya stopped when she noticed a young man standing by the elevators looking very confused. She didn't recognize him. New staff?

"Are you looking for something?" Kaiya asked.

He jumped in surprise. "Holy crap, all of you God Eaters are so quiet. It's creepy. I'm looking for the infirmary…"

"Oh that's on a different floor. I'll take you there." Kaiya pressed the button to call the elevator. "I haven't seen you around before. Do you work here?" She thought she had learned the names and faces of all of the staff that worked at the branch but it was larger than Friar had been and it seemed like she met someone new every day.

He shook his head. "No. I-" His eyes narrowed as the elevator doors opened.

"Oh hi Soma, we're getting on too," said Kaiya. She startled as the young man ran over and grabbed Soma's shirt. "What are you doing!?"

"What the hell did you do!?" he snarled. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her! Why the hell didn't you protect her?!"

Kaiya ran into the elevator, ready to pry the obviously crazy guy off of Soma.

Soma met her eyes and shook his head slightly. She froze but stayed close enough that she could react if need be.

Soma didn't say anything. He just looked at the ground.

"Goddamn it! Say something! It's your fault you know! You dumb God Eaters, always taking away precious things."

"She's still there," whispered Soma. "The sister you know, she's there. Not the God Eater though. Not the God Eater we know."

Soma looked so broken in that moment. She didn't know he could make a face like that. He almost looked as terrible as he did when she had been missing.

He released Soma's shirt and backed up a step. He looked at Kaiya. "Which floor is the infirmary?"

Kaiya looked to Soma who gestured to the buttons. She was not sure if this was a good idea but she pushed the button. "Aria is your sister?" she asked after a few tense seconds of silence.

He nodded.

Curious. They looked nothing alike. Before she could ask more, they reached the floor. He strode out and looked around the hallway. "Where is she?"

Kaiya stepped out as well. She looked back at Soma. "You coming?"

Soma shook his head and pressed a button and closed the elevator doors.

Kaiya grimaced. According to Alisa, Soma had not visited her since she had lost her memory. Aria had been allowed to wander a few of the halls and apparently, whenever he saw her, he would turn and walk the other way. She didn't know much about this kind of stuff but she knew that was probably not good.

Kaiya led the way to her door and pushed it open. Oh. Erina and Kota were here. Aria was sitting in her bed. They were apparently in mid-conversation as they turned to the door.

Aria's eyes widen as she saw the young man behind Kaiya. "Jun!"

Jun seemed taken aback. "Uh Aria. You're looking well."

"We'll come back later. You two probably have some catching up to do," said Erina.

"Uh thanks." Jun stuck his hands in his pockets. He looked very different from the guy that had yelled at Soma. So meek. It was odd.

"They don't look alike for siblings," commented Kaiya once the three of them were in the hallway.

"They're adopted siblings," said Kota. "They have a bunch of siblings, a bunch of other children that were orphaned for one reason or another. Jun owns an orphanage in the Outer Ghetto for them now so I guess they aren't all siblings anymore?" Kota looked at Erina in confusion.

"Don't look at me. I have no idea what to call them."

Kaiya blinked slowly. Huh. That was different. And confusing.

"Anyway, I assume the siblings have a lot to catch up on, so shall we go do something else Erina? Hangout in the lounge?"

"Well, I was hoping to get some advice from you Teacher, if you don't mind," said Erina.

"Oh I don't mind," said Kaiya. "I'm free right now too."

"Seriously?" Kota sighed. "I'm cool to hang out with too you know."

* * *

Aria smiled to herself as she walked to the vending machine. Jun had visited her today! It was nice to see a familiar face . He looked older than what she remembered though. More grown up. Apparently he ran an orphanage in the Outer Ghetto now for children that lost their families to Aragami.

Aragami.

Just thinking of those creatures sent a shiver down her spine. She didn't really understand why that made her nervous. No one would tell her either. She looked down at her armlet. They had told her it was for her medicine but she knew what it was. It was for a God Eater. She was a God Eater but didn't remember being one.

She had so many visitors come by to talk to her. She had tried to be nice but it was hard. They talked to her easily, like they were comfortable with her. She didn't have that with any of them though. She could see how it pained some of them. Especially the Cradle Unit. They were always visiting her, always chatting with her. All of them were so nice. Well, except for one.

She reached the vending machine and started scanning the drinks. Which ones should she get? She ran her finger along the buttons. Maybe two of the orange juice and three coffees? She paused. Why was she planning on getting so many drinks? She just wanted to get one for right now. Strange.

In the end, she went with a coffee. That Love Juice sounded interesting but something was telling her to not get it. Maybe next time?

She opened the can and took a sip. What should she do for the rest of the day? It was close to dinner time. Yae would expect her to be in her room then. What to do…what to do…

She jumped as the door at the end of the hall opened. Her eyes widen as she recognized who it was.

Soma.

The one member of the Cradle Unit that really did not like her.

He did seem to notice her presence as he was looking through a few papers. It impressed her how he could walk and read at the same time. She bit her lip as he walked past her.

Should she call out? Or let him go? "Umm Soma?"

He startled and looked at her. There was an emotion in his eyes that she could not place but it was replaced by the cool indifference he seemed to keep around her. "What?" He pushed the button for the elevator. "Shouldn't you be in your room?"

"Did…did I do something to you?"

"Do something?" he repeated. He still wasn't looking at her.

"I feel like I did something bad to you. Unlike the other Cradle members, you ignore me. And when I ask Alisa or Kota about it, they said I need to talk to you."

Did his hands tighten against the papers or did she imagine it?

"I'm sorry for whatever I did! I really am!" She clutched her hands against her chest. She didn't know why but she had to make him believe her. "Please, please tell me what I did."

The elevator arrived with a loud ping. He looked back at her with those blue eyes of his. Why did she care so much about those eyes?

"You took someone important to me away."

Aria's eyes widen. "I…"

He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button. She watched the doors close. He did not look at her. She looked down at her hands. "What…what did I do?" she whispered.

* * *

"SOMA!"

Soma winced as Alisa stormed into his room without knocking. He tried to ignore her but it was hard to ignore the angry woman that grabbed the book out of his hands and flung it across the room.

"What. The. Hell. Why did you say that to her!?"

He stared at the ground. The truth was, he couldn't give a reason why. It had just slipped out in the moment. He had panicked seeing her there. And she demanded an answer from him. Like how she had done many times in the past. Just not like this.

"Soma, she's upset! She's been asking Kota and I what she did! She looks so lost and that is what is freaking me out the most."

Soma gritted his teeth. Damn it. Damn everything.

"Soma, you need to talk to her. You need to spend time with her."

"I…I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Alisa put her hands on her hips. "We've been doing it. Everyone has been doing it. Except you."

"It's not her," he whispered. "It's not Aria." He paused. "It's not the Aria I know."

"We all know that, but we're trying. We're trying to jog her memory. We want her back. But…we also have to think of the possibility that she might be like this from now on."

"I can't. Alisa, damn it, I can't." He rubbed his eyes. "Whenever I see her, I think of the Aria I know. I can see her, the old Aria in there. The one who helped changed everything for me. But it's not her. That Aria isn't there right now. And I can't. Alisa, I know it is hard to explain but I just can't…"

He saw a water drop fall on Alisa's shoe. He looked up at her and saw tears pouring down her face. "You think you are the only one who wants her back!? All of us do! We all want her back. You're not the only one who sees the little nuance of the old Aria. We all do. We share glances when we see it. We try to make her remember. The good times. We talk about that a lot. So don't you dare feel pity on yourself and think of yourself as the only one suffering."

Soma swallowed, the lump hard in his throat. "Alisa, I'm sorry." He didn't know what to do. Should he give her a hug? That sounded really awkward.

Alisa rubbed her eyes. "Don't feel sorry. Just hang out with her. Even if only for a couple of minutes okay?" She turned and left his room.

Soma got up and retrieved his book from the floor. A book about memory. "What kind of boyfriend am I?" he whispered.

BREBREAKBREAK

Soma stepped out of his lab after dropping off the new sample of Retro Oracle Cells from the Kyuubi he had fought that morning. If it was one thing the Far East was good at, it was having unique Aragami species pop up left and right. He had more than enough samples now to work on his research without worry for a while.

He paused as he got close to the infirmary. He had not seen her since that day. He had stood out here a few times and debated on going in but he just never had the courage to. How could he face her?

A scream pierced through the door.

Aria.

Without thinking, he slammed open the infirmary door, his eyes quickly scanning for danger. There was nothing here besides doctors and a computer screen. Aria was cowering in the corner of the room.

"What happened?"

One of the doctors said, "We thought to show her a few pictures of Aragami to see if we can expose her to her fear to try to get rid of it but…" She gestured to the shaking Aria.

Soma walked to the back of the room. She had her face in her hands, her body shaking. He reached out, hesitated and then lightly touched her shoulder.

She recoiled backwards and smacked the back of her head against the wall.

He winced at the crack sound. Thankfully it didn't look like she had hurt herself. He grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her against his chest. "You're fine…you're fine." He soothed.

Slowly and surely her shivering subsided and her shallow breaths returned to normal.

"Everything okay now?"

She looked up at him and her eyes widen. "Soma?"

Damn it. When she looked at him like that… He released her but kept a grip on her hand. "Are you feeling okay now? How's your head?"

"It's okay." She rubbed the back of it with her free hand. "I…I think I'm okay now…"

"Good. That's good."

"Why are you here?" she asked. She looked down at the ground. "I thought you didn't like me?"

Damn it. "It's…more complicated than that. But I am sorry for what I said to you, I know that will probably not make up for what I said but, I will make it up to you."

"It was me right? The me that I can't remember. That's who you were referring too right?"

"You were always so smart in figuring stuff out," grumbled Soma.

She grinned. He felt his heart squeeze. That was her smile.

"I really wish I could remember. There's so much here that I should know, that I know I know but it's like there's like a wall there. I can't push past it."

"We'll figure it out. I know we will," said Soma. He smiled. "Let's just say that you were always the one to come up with crazy solutions for things. Let us think of something now."

She tilted her head to the side. "I think I really believe you on that."

He helped her to her feet. "How about a change in scenery? The lounge?"

She nodded. "Sure."

* * *

"We have a plan on getting Aria's memory back."

Soma stared at Sakaki as he tried to process what he had said. The rest of the Cradle members but Alisa and Kaiya seemed to have the same look on their faces.

"Care to explain?" asked Sakuya.

Alisa stepped forward. "Dr. Sakaki got the idea after he found out I used resonance to wake her up. What if I did the same as what happened with Lindow?"

"Go through her memories?" Lindow nodded. "That could work. At least it worked for me."

"So the plan is to have Alisa use resonance to find Aria's memories and unlock them. Or whatever else that happens when you do that," said Sakaki.

"Alisa will be doing this alone? When Aria did it with me, she had Ren helping her," Lindow pointed out.

"Your son?" Kaiya looked at Lindow in confusion.

"No, my God Arc…it's a long story for another time."

"We will not be sending Alisa in alone. That's where Kaiya comes in," continued Sakaki. "Using her Evoke, we can possible send a few others in as well."

"How would that work?" asked Kota.

"It's all conjecture for now but we think Kaiya's Evoke can amply Alisa's resonance to at least send one other person in."

"My resonance ability isn't as strong as Aria's so I don't know how well it will work but I am willing to try," said Alisa.

"And I'm willing to help out," said Kaiya.

"I'm in," said Soma.

"Jeez Soma, that was fast."

Soma glared at Kota. "Aria would do the same for us."

"Well, technically she already has…" Lindow laughed. "Well you know my vote."

"Mine as well," said Sakuya.

"Alright! Let's all agree to do this thing and hope we all can get in there!" Kota put his hand out. "Eh? Come on guys! Don't leave me hanging!"

Alisa rolled her eyes but she put her hand in.

Sakuya laughed and put hers on top.

Lindow was on top of hers. "Oh get over here Kaiya, you're part of this too!"

"Oh, right!' Kaiya put her hand on top of the pile.

Everyone looked at Soma. He sighed. These idiots. Always doing embarrassing things. He put his hand on top of theirs. "We're going to bring her back, and we're all going to keep that promise."

* * *

"Are you sure this will me get my memory back?" asked Aria.

"We're going to try our best," replied Soma.

"And you get to do it in the comfort of a bed instead of out on Aegis Island," said Lindow.

Aria looked at him in confusion.

"Don't listen to him." Sakuya glared at her husband.

"I was trying to make her feel better…"

Alisa took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready as I can be…"

"I'll try to amply and not get involved in the memories," said Kaiya. "Of course I've never done something like this either."

"I hope I can remember again," said Aria. "I feel bad that you guys are doing so much and yet I don't really have the same connection to any of you."

"Don't worry Aria! Soon you will remember and go back to being the Demon on the Battlefield!"

Aria frowned and stared at Kota. "For some reason I don't like that name…"

Kota hung his head. "Seriously!? It's your title for crying out loud!"

"That's enough Kota!" snapped Alisa. She took a deep breath and held out her hand. Like they discussed, Soma grasped her hand and held out his free hand for Kota. Kota took it and then it was Lindow and Sakuya.

Kaiya put her hand on Alisa's shoulder. "I'm ready. If this doesn't work we can try again and I'll use Blood Rage to increase my Evoke power."

"You ready Aria?" asked Alisa.

Aria nodded. "As ready as I can be…" She held out her hand.

Alisa reached out and grasped her hand.

Soma felt his conscious snap and reform. He shook his head, his ears ringing.

The air around him was cool and it was dark. Night time perhaps. Around him was the rubble of buildings that seemed to stretch on for miles. No, that was a lie. After a certain point, it became fuzzy.

"Looks like the two of us were the only ones that made it in." Alisa was standing next to him. Her God Arc was in hand.

"How did you make your God Arc appear?"

"You just think it? At least that's what I did."

Soma felt a weight in his hand and he looked down and saw his white God Arc was there. Huh, that was convenient. "What's next?"

Alisa shrugged. "I really had no idea of where we would end up. But I think we need to find her." She frowned. "Maybe I should have touched her God Arc and met the spirit of it? That might have been helpful."

"It's a good thing you didn't. Aria is a pretty unique case. I don't know if you touched it, it would have the same effect as her touching Lindow's."

She sighed. "You're probably right. Anyway, shall we start walking?"

Soma picked a direction at random and began walking with Alisa right behind him.

"It's really unnaturally quiet…" she said. "I thought we would be right in the middle of some action or something. "Although, after reading the report where Aria described her experience in Lindow's mind, she started at the Den and it was really quiet there at first…"

"Do you talk a lot when you're nervous?"

Alisa glared at him. "I'm more confused than-hey look up ahead!"

Soma tightened his grip on his god arc. Aragami. A Zygote screamed as a God Arc slammed through it.

Aria.

Not the one that was confused and scared of Aragami. This was their Aria. The Demon of the Battlefield. She was using Predator styles left and right to kill the Aragami around her. It just didn't seem to stop though. The more she fought, the more Aragami that fell, there were always more to replace the fallen bodies.

Alisa readied her God Arc.

Soma tightened his grip. "Let's go."

He ran for the closest Aragami, a fallen Borg Camlann. The blow sent the Aragami reeling in pain. It gave a cry and the tail flew towards him. Soma put up his shield and was in shock by the impact. It felt so real!

Alisa slid under the Aragami and fired bullets all along its underbelly. When she reached the end, she switched her Arc into Blade form and slashed upwards.

"One down," she said as the Borg fell.

Soma looked at the herd of Aragami between them and Aria. "And so many more to go."

There did not seem to be a sense of time here. His body did not get tired, the moon in the sky did not change positions. The Aragami seemed never ending. They just kept coming. Rising from the ground, coming in from the sky. There seemed to be no end to them.

Alisa and Soma were finally within range of her. She was so close.

"What are we going to do?" asked Alisa. She ripped an Ogretail in half with her sword.

"Can we get her away from here?!" asked Soma.

"We can try." Alisa pulled out a flash grenade.

Soma wanted to ask how she had one but he had a feeling he just had to go with it. He focused on Aria. She was currently fighting a Hannibal. Its arm and head bonds were already broken.

The two God Eaters ran in her direction. Alisa prepared the flash grenade. Once they were near her, she dropped it. Thankfully the flash worked as it should as the Aragami around them stopped, stunned.

Aria looked surprised. She looked in their direction just as Soma grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder without stopping. He heard Alisa throw another flash grenade behind him.

Once they were a few buildings away from the hoard of Aragami, he stopped running and put her down.

"What? What are you guys doing here!?" Aria stared back and forth at both of them in shock.

"We've come to save you stupid." Soma lightly flicked her forehead.

She rubbed the spot and glared at him. "Yes but how did you get here?"

"It's a long story." Alisa pointed her gun at the approaching Aragami hoard. "The Aragami are coming."

"I'm sure it is." She made a face. "Now I understand how Lindow felt when we are tried to get rid of the Corrosive Hannibal."

"What's the plan?" asked Soma. "We didn't figure out how to get you out of here. Just how to get in."

Aria thought for a moment. "Well, for Lindow, we just killed the Hannibal and that was the end of that."

"That's a hoard though," Alisa pointed out. "And you've been fighting it for days."

"Days?" Aria looked at Alisa blankly. "Huh, I guess time runs differently here. That's good to know."

"Can we not have that kind of discussion now," snapped Soma. "We need to get you out of here."

"Sorry." She smiled at Soma. "How did both of you get in here? I can understand you Alisa but Soma too?"

"Kaiya amplified my resonance," said Alisa. "Everyone was supposed to be here…"

"Everyone huh…" Aria grinned. He knew that grin. It was the one she got when she had a plan. A crazy plan that despite all odds, would actually work. "Alisa, I'm going to try something. It might not work but it's worth a shot right?"

"It's been so long that I'm actually happy to hear you say that," said Alisa.

Aria reached out and touched Alisa's arm.

"Holy crap!? Where are we?!" Kota looked around in confusion.

"This looks different than my mind," said Lindow. "I think mine was decorated better."

"Oh stop it," sighed Sakuya.

"Holy crap Aria! You're here!" Kota ran over to her. He looked like he was going to hug her but stopped. "Wait. You are Aria right?"

She laughed. "It is me Kota. The one who watched the second season of Bugarally with you in one sitting."

"Oh man, it is you!" Kota hugged her.

"Kota, there is no time for that!" Alisa pointed to the approaching Aragami hoard.

"Sheesh Captain. I'm currently on maternity leave. I can never get a break huh?" She was grinning as she pointed her God Arc at the oncoming hoard.

Lindow chuckled. "Guess it is time for me to return the favor huh?" He held his God Arc at the ready.

"Wait! How did you guys make your God Arc appear!?" Kota looked at around in a panic.

"Just think it and it will appear Kota. Come on. Get with the program."

Kota looked down. "Oh! There it is!"

Aria's eyes met Soma. A small smile just for him. He smiled back at her. "We're with you Captain."

"Alright then!" Aria stood in front and stared at the oncoming hoard. "Cradle Unit! Move out!"

* * *

"You weren't kidding when you said the Sacred Ground was beautiful." Aria stared at the lush green world all around her. Was this what the world saw before the Aragami were here?

"I'm glad I got to finally show you."

She turned to look at Soma. She got a glimpse of the expression he always seemed to wear when he thought she wasn't looking. Even though it had been over a week since she had gotten her memory back, it always seemed like he was worried that she might vanish again. She had her first field mission yesterday with Kaiya and Soma had been waiting for her as soon as she had gotten back. He had asked a bunch of questions about her health and how she was doing. It had taken a little bit of time to alleviate his worries. Yes, she had been fine, but she had not awoken to a Blood Art yet.

"I hope one day everyone can see a sight like this." Aria bent down and picked a flower. "I know my siblings would love it. It really gives context to what we're fighting for." She grinned and laid down on the grass. Looking up at the blue sky like this and feeling the gentle wind and smelling the flowers, it was like the world was not ruined beyond this mountain.

She sensed Soma sit next to her. "You should lie down too." She looked up at him.

He shook his head. "I…I'm sorry for what I said to you when you didn't have your memory."

It took her a couple of moments to realize what he was talking about. "Soma, really, it's nothing. I understand."

"No. I mean, really. It is a big deal. I wasn't there when you needed me the most."

She sat up and grasped Soma's hands in her own. "No really it's okay. I understand. And before you ask, this is not my ignoring my emotions. In case you forgot, I had a big falling out with my brother but I still cared about him. You were struggling as well Soma."

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. "I don't deserve someone like you."

"Oh stop that," huffed Aria. "We've been together for three years. Isn't that kind of stuff supposed to be dealt with year one?"

Soma shrugged. "I really have no idea."

"Me neither," replied Aria.

They looked at each other and laughed. Aria fell back onto the grass. "We are an odd couple aren't we?"

"I think Lindow and Sakuya are even weirder," replied Soma. "They didn't even date and just got married."

"Marriage huh?" Aria smiled. She knew the old her would never say what she was thinking now. The old God Eater her would keep it to herself. She would think of everything alone and not act on them. The three year relationship had been opening her up. Not just with Soma but the rest of her Unit. Maybe that was what gave her the strength to say her next few words. "Want to get married?"

Soma coughed.

She lifted herself up by the elbows and looked at him in concern. "You okay? Not choking?"

"N…no!" His face had an obvious shade of red to it. "I just…did you really mean that?"

"It was just a thought," Aria said quickly. Maybe it was too soon to bring it up?

"No, no. I…" He groaned and hung his head in his hands. "Why do you always put me on the spot like this!?"

Aria sat up and crossed her legs under her. "Sorry. It's okay Soma. I know things have gotten crazy and it's going to take a while for everything to return to normal so-"

Soma grabbed her hands. "I…I'm okay with it! We…we can get…married," he mumbled.

She had to smile. He got so nervous about things like this. It was adorable.

He reached out and lightly caressed her cheek. "Like I told you three years ago, I'll try to make you happy."

She smiled and leaned into his hand. They might not have been the most normal couple out there but this was fine for her.

* * *

"You may now kiss the bride."

There was a chorus of "ewwww" from the children in the audience.

Aria had to giggle and even Soma looked amused.

"Looks like the children might not approve," Aria whispered.

"I'm sure I can take them," Soma replied. "Although…there are a lot of them."

Aria looked out into the crowd of people that had come to the wedding. Her second family, the Cradle Unit sat in the first row. Behind them and intermingled with the other Units and staff of the Far East was her family. The children of the orphanage and her siblings. All of them were happy for her, including Jun much to her surprise. He had been very grumpy for the past couple of days since Aria and Soma came by to tell him they were getting married. He had become a little happier when he learned the wedding was going to take place in the Outer Ghetto so everyone could attend.

Hibari stood. "Fran has just called in that a few psions are approaching."

Kaiya stood. "How many?"

"At least ten. We need all able God Eaters to assemble." Hibari had her tablet out as she walked away.

"You think they would get mad if we left?" asked Aria.

"Considering we are the bride and groom, the wedding would be over," Soma pointed out.

Aria nodded. "That makes sense." She bent down and used her hands and her Oracle Cell strength to tear the dress so it was now knee length. "Cradle Unit, let's go! We have an emergency on our hands!"

"Good luck Aria!" called Ayame. "We'll take care of things until you get back!"

Soma chuckled and removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie.

Behind her, the rest of her Unit fell in line.

"We better get backs soon! I really wanted to eat some cake!" said Kota.

"Do you always think with your stomach Kota?" sighed Alisa.

"I'll be back soon!" Lindow called back to Sakuya.

"Kill those Aragami Daddy!" yelled Ren from Sakuya's arms.

"We're with you Captain," Soma said from her side.

Aria grinned. "Don't run away from living. And that's an order!"


End file.
